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Panama City will once again stage its own version of shopping mania in September. All types of shops will offer deals and there will be events throughout the city for “Black Weekend,” Panama’s take on the holiday season’s “Black Friday.”

The third edition of the event is scheduled for Sept. 13-15 and more than 3,000 stores and 12 shopping malls are committed to participating, organizers said this week. The shopping spree has become part of the calendar, spicing up a typically slow time of year for the city.

The past two events have generated more than $90 million in sales, said the president of the Panamanian Association of Shopping Centers (Apacecom) Nadkyi Duque, according to coverage in La Estrella. The weekend has been successful in boosting the economy, she said.

The event helps position Panama City as a shopping destination, organizers said. More than 25,000 “tourist-buyers” are expected to visit the city for this year’s deals, National Chamber of Tourism (Camtur) president Antonio Alfaro said at the press conference.

Stores will be offering deals as high as 70 percent off, organizers said. And while the event draws tourists from outside Panama, it is also a nice chance to general more internal tourism to help pump the city’s economy, said the administrator of the Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP), Iván Eskildsen.