Retailers want you in stores on Black Friday. Here's how they plan to do it.

Reminding shoppers it's all about the experience - not only the hottest deal or the social-worthy photo or the pajama-wearing convenience, but sights, sounds, smells and fun of it all - seems to be the strategy of malls and big box stores on the eve of the holiday shopping kickoff on Black Friday 2018.

This focus on the experience is playing out with shopping events, extended hours and food and drink freebies at retailers hoping to stand apart from the crowd.

A few examples:

Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora, perennially packed from Thanksgiving evening through the late-night hours of Black Friday, is stepping up its game with its first Thanksgiving concert, featuring '90s cover band Run Forrest Run performing from 8 to 10 p.m.

Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, also a Black Friday hub, is opening an hour earlier than in years past, welcoming shoppers at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving evening for a 29-hour shopping marathon that concludes with a 10 p.m. closing on Black Friday.

Walmart stores are opening at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving with free cookies, coffee and cocoa for those in line to be among the first inside, calling the event "Light Up Black Friday."

And several large chains such as Home Depot, J.C. Penney and Old Navy alerted customers to their deals earlier than in the past and started the sales earlier this week, too - all to draw people away from their computer screens and into the decorations and displays and enticing discounts of their physical stores.

"It's about the experience," said Andy Dunn, director of marketing and business development for Chicago Premium Outlets. "We recognize that we always need to be offering a little more and staying front of mind with shoppers, who are much more educated and much more smart about how and where they spend their money."

Shoppers this year could have accessed some Black Friday ads about holiday deals beginning as early as Oct. 8, if they searched on websites such as blackfriday.com, digitaltrends.com or theblackfriday.com. Some of these deals went into effect as early as Nov. 1, when amazon.com started offering bargains, or Nov. 2 for Gander Outdoors and Nov. 5 for Home Depot and Lowe's.

With some of these savings accessible at all hours in the digital world, stores and malls are recognizing shoppers are in control of when, where and how they buy their holiday gifts. So they're responding by highlighting the tangible details computerized purchasing can't offer.

"Shoppers come to the mall for the sensory experience of visiting our retailers," said Heather Lloyd, director of marketing and business development for Woodfield Mall, "to see a diamond sparkle or feel a cozy sweater."

Adjusting with the changing sway of family customs is another part of the game of attracting shoppers, as feasting and deal-hunting begin to mix.

"Families come out after they have an amazing meal, and it's just become part of their Thanksgiving tradition to eat, watch some football and come out to Chicago Premium Outlets," Dunn said.

Ease of access factors in, too. The bustling outlet mall near the interchange of I-88 and Farnsworth Road works with Aurora police to create a safety and traffic control plan with detour routes, suggested exits for customers from all directions and remote parking lots with free shuttles. This year's plan was released more than a week in advance of the big day, giving both faraway destination shoppers and relatives visiting nearby residents time to adjust travel plans accordingly.

"We want to make sure that people can focus on the things that are important to them that night, which are family and fun," Dunn said. "Anything we can do to make that easy, we're happy to do."

Despite all their concerts, cookies, extended hours and deeply discounted deals, brick-and-mortar retailers are realizing they won't get shoppers to do 100 percent of their purchasing in person. And they're beginning to be OK with that.

"We can provide a great experience and be a supplement to what other people are doing online," Dunn said. "These things aren't mutually exclusive."