On Black Friday, shoppers nationwide rise before dawn or camp out all night to benefit from major sales at large stores.

But because Harvard Square stores rely on students and tourists to generate profit, the Thanksgiving holiday left some stores empty.

“Sales were dead Friday,” said DOMA Liquors store manager Arjun Kunwar. “Once the classes start again, it’ll be mad busy. Students will buy a lot of liquor.”

According to the estimate by ShopperTrak, a sales research company, Friday’s nationwide sales rose 8.3 percent over last year.

Nationwide store visits increased 4.8 percent, but overall spending decreased, according to the National Retail Federation.

For those students who did remain on campus, Black Friday provided a chance to grab discounted items at the mall.

Lisa M. Yu ’11 woke up at 5 a.m. with her roommate to purchase clothes and memory soft pillows as gifts for the upcoming holidays.

“The holiday season is definitely about gifts,” said Yu, adding that a trip to CambridgeSide Galleria was better than searching for sales online.

“For the most part it was pretty difficult finding out what stores had sales, but the big malls had all the stuff we need.”

Luis A. Martinez ’08, who ventured to buy a laptop at CambridgeSide, said that discounts were the cornerstone of his shopping experiences.

“As a student, I’m shopping on a budget,” he said. “So the more discounts, the better.”

Smaller stores around the Square reported mixed results about their sales traffic.

Management at Hidden Sweets said sales were slow, dropping 10 percent. Adidas Originals said they had a 20 to 25 percent increase in Friday’s sales over last year’s.

Everything’s Jake and Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe also reported sales increases.

Although it did not experience a spike in sales after Thanksgiving, Berk’s Shoes has benefited from a seasonal surge.

“I wouldn’t say there was a big jump this weekend,” said Assistant Manager Markelle Valdez. “But it’s been a pretty good month already, and this weekend’s been busy like all other weekends.”

According to a recent Reuters/Zogby poll, U.S. consumers said they planned to spend less this holiday season because of the U.S. housing downturn and fears of a recession.