Athenians turn out for Black Friday sales

Shoppers reach out for television sets at a department store in Athens on Friday. The Black Friday sales appeared to beat retailers’ expectations as hundreds of customers lined the streets outside the city’s most popular department stores long before sunrise. It is estimated that 30,000 shoppers poured into the Public branch in Syntagma Square, while an estimated 60,000 people visited the McArthurGlen Athens designer outlet on the eastern outskirts of the capital. Media Markt said it estimated a 50 percent rise in sales over Black Friday last year. [Orestis Panagiotou/EPA]