Shoppers Now Want These Gift Cards The Most In Minnesota

With less than 10 days to go before Christmas, gift cards are a popular gift for last-minute shoppers. And these gift cards are the cards shoppers want the most this year here in Minnesota!

The five-day Black Friday shopping period that took place over the Thanksgiving weekend this year was one that set a record for online spending. PBS News reported that online shoppers spent $44.2 billion online overall during that period, up 7.7 percent from last year, a massive figure helped by record spending online during Black Friday.

The results were similar on Cyber Monday, when shoppers spent another $14.25 billion,  an increase of over 7 percent from 2024, which made Monday, December 1st, the year’s biggest online shopping day, according to PBS News.

Holiday Shopping Records Are Fueling a Gift Card Boom

And gift cards are a big part of all that spending. Americans are again set to spend billions of dollars on gift cards this holiday season, making them one of the hottest presents out there. "We see over and over every holiday season, gift cards are a top-tier gift," Bruce Nustad, president of the Minnesota Retail Association, said in this CBS News Minnesota story.

SEE ALSO: Do You Know Gift Cards Can Legally Never Expire in Minnesota?

And despite a somewhat shaky economy, holiday sales are still expected to increase in 2025 and will likely top the 1 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever. Which means once again this year in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we Minnesotans will spend more than we ever have before.

That's the word from a new holiday shopping survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF), which says consumers here in Minnesota and across the country are going to shell out an average of just over $890 per person this year on holiday gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items. That amount is set to be the second-highest in the survey’s 23-year history.

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Minnesotans Set to Spend Big on Gifts Again in 2025

While that amount is just under what we spent last year, it's still over $10 higher than the previous record set in 2019, the NRF said. And much of that money here in the Bold North will be spent on gift cards. But not all cards are created equal.

That's why the number-crunchers over at Wallet Hub just put out a list of the Best Gift Cards for the holidays for 2025. Their study compared gift cards affiliated with the country’s 50 most popular retailers in five categories, including gift card popularity, average buyer discount, average resale value, retailer rating, and shipping or purchase fees.

These Are the Gift Cards Shoppers Want Most This Christmas

And the result? Here are the Best Gift Cards for 2025, per Wallet Hub:

1. Sephora
2. Target
3. Starbucks
4. Disney
5. Chipotle
6. Visa
7. Amazon
8. Chick-fil-A
9. Old Navy
10. Walmart

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As well as Wallet Hub's list of the Most Popular Gift Cards in 2025:

1. Visa
2. Amazon
3. Target
4. Sephora
5. Disney
6. Starbucks
7. Walmart
8. Chick-fil-A
9. Chipotle
10. eBay

In addition to gift cards being the most popular item on Minnesotans' lists this year,  the NFR survey said clothing and accessories, books and other media, and personal care or beauty items are also hot items this year.

Now, if you're going to head out and do some shopping this season, many Minnesotans will include a trip to the Mall of America, which is always festively decked out for the holidays. Just be sure you DON'T bring along any of the following items because they've been banned from MOA!

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