Even shoppers in tony Beverly Hills find bargains

BEVERLY HILLS — Even on tony Rodeo Drive, home to the most expensive luxury retailers, shoppers were out on Black Friday finding discounted merchandise.

"I saved $500," said Nora Alzamil of her boots and coat purchases at Prada. "The discounts were amazing. I saved a lot of money."

Rodeo Drive, which specializes in high-end stores like Cartier, Chanel and Burberry, went all out Friday, bringing Santa Claus and live music to the urban shopping enclave, which rivals New York's 5th Avenue and Las Vegas for appealing to the top 1%.

The area is "the epitome of class, fashion and style," said Allison DeVito, visiting from New York. "I didn't expect to find any sales today, but I did--like 30% off and 50% off."

Stephanie Yang, visiting from Baltimore with husband and two kids, said she came to Rodeo Drive to find "something cute for the kids and myself." The area is "world renowned for the best shopping," she said.

According to the National Retail Foundation, nearly 136 million people are slated to shop over the entire holiday weekend, with most on Friday, when discounts on products are more prevalent. For online sales, Cyber Monday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and expected to bring in $3 billion in sales, according to Adobe, which tracks online sales.

In 2014, retail stores rang up $3.2 billion in sales last Thanksgiving, while the Thursday/Friday period total saw some $12.29 billion in sales at retail, according to researcher Shoppertrack.