Shoppers Snap Up Black Friday Deals

Flock To Stores Before Dawn Amid Fears This Will Be Weakest Holiday Shopping Season In Decades

(CBS/AP)  Shoppers, who had snapped their wallets shut since September, flocked to stores and malls before dawn Friday to grab deals on everything from TVs to toys for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, feared to be the weakest in decades.

Retailers extended their hours - some opening at midnight - and offered deals that promised to be even deeper and wider than even the deep discounts that shoppers found throughout November. Best Buy, which threw its doors open at 5 a.m. offered such early morning specials as a 49-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV for $899.99 and a $189.99 GPS device by Garmin, while Toys "R" Us, was offering up to 60 percent discounts from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The question remains whether many people will be spending much money on holiday gifts as a recession nears, credit markets remain frozen, layoffs loom and consumer spending shrinks.

As CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports, 89 percent of shoppers this year plan to spend the same or less than they did the year before. Only 11 percent plan to spend more.

But retail analyst Marshall Cohen told Doane that customers who are hitting the stores have the advantage.

"Retailers are really competing to try to get consumers to spend early and spend quickly," Cohen said. "Because there is less money around."

"I would say the retailers are not worried right now," Doane told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith as he reported from a Best Buy in West Paterson, N.J. "There are long lines in this store and consumers anxious to take advantage of holiday deals started lining up early this morning."

Smith asked Doane how the employees at the store handled the big crowd chomping at the bit to snap up the early bird deals.

"They handled it fine," Doane said. "There are extra staff on hand to help people get to where they're trying to go. People saying the GPS is here, computers this way. There are a lot of people on hand to just manage the movement here. It's pretty wild for 5:00 A.M.!"

At the Best Buy store in Syracuse, N.Y., a line snaked past stores and around walkways on the second floor of Carousel Center a few moments before the store's 5 a.m. opening - about eight hours after some people near the front of the line had arrived.

Rob Schoeneck, the mall's manager, estimated about 1,000 people were waiting for the electronics store to open and said the crowd was about the same size as a year ago. Usually the mall gets the biggest Black Friday lines for electronics, he said.

"I don't understand this, whether the economy is good or bad," he said, referring to the line.

Inside, Kira Carinci, 33, searched for the $80 "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" video game and guitar controller bundle for her son.

Carinci, a teacher who lives in Cicero, N.Y., said that this year she is more concerned about money than she was last holiday season, and she set aside a certain amount for Christmas spending this year.

"I don't usually save, so this year is a little different," she said.

Meanwhile, tragedy struck at a Long Island Wal-Mart, after a worker died from being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long store opened Friday, police said.

Nassau County police say the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened. The cause of death was not immediately known.

A police statement says a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground." Police also say a 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede during the day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, but said a "medical emergency" caused them to close the store. Read more.

Meanwhile, Michaela Kipp, 42, a single mom who works as a dental assistant, arrived at the Best Buy store in Syracuse, N.Y., with her boss' husband because both of them wanted to pick up a new HP desktop computer packages, selling for $600. Kipp also wanted to get a $380 Toshiba laptop for her 17-year-old son. The two got in line at 9 p.m. to ensure they'd get the computers.

Kipp said she'd applied online to get 18 months of interest-free financing for the purchase, and that she hoped to use her income tax return to pay off a good chunk of it.

She estimated that she's spending less than she usually does on holiday gifts.

Still, "the fact that the gas prices have gone down, I feel confident that I can pay off this without any problems," she said.

Meanwhile, Katie Lecompte of Elton, La., drove to the Lake Charles, La., Toys R Us early Friday for half-price deals for seven children below the age of 5.

"We started planning right after we finished the turkey," she said. She added, "We do have a budget. It's basically what we spent last year. We come early because of the half-price sale. We saved $120 last year by coming out early."

Black Friday - which falls on the day after Thanksgiving and officially starts the holiday shopping period - received its name because it historically was the day when a surge of shoppers helped stores break into profitability for the full year. But this year, with rampant promotions of up to 70 percent throughout the month amid a deteriorating economy, the power of this landmark day for the retail industry could be fading.

Still, while it isn't a predictor of holiday season sales, the day after Thanksgiving is an important barometer of people's willingness to spend for the rest of the season. And particularly this year, analysts will dissect how the economy is shaping shoppers' buying habits, including whether they will spring for big-ticket items or focus on small purchases like gloves and hats.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend of Friday through Sunday accounted for about 10 percent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp.

The group hasn't released estimates for Black Friday sales this year, but experts believe it will remain one of the season's biggest selling days, even as shoppers remain deliberate in their spending.

Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, expects to see the surge of shoppers dramatically taper off throughout the day and into the weekend.

"I think we are going to see the busiest Black Friday ever, but will it carry over past 10 a.m.?" he said. "The bottom line is a great Black Friday does not make a season."

[getoffmine1]

notice this articel is presented by sony, what a joke.

People did not shop more and it is only going to get worse. If so many people went out and spent how come the markets are tanking?

[anonbychoice]

I will continue to do as I do every year since I choose not to own a credit card, I will buy what I can afford after bills and groceries, I will buy wisely, and I started buying before halloween with a small gift or 2 every pay day. My son will have a decent christmas and at the most it will cost me about $100.
Going in debt for a holiday is not my idea of a good time. spending time with my kids and my family is a good time.


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Posted by DebinOK1 at 11:07 AM : Nov 29, 2008

AMEN!!! Family IS what matters most

[anonbychoice]

Go cry to someone else. If you got the money to shop all day, please do. It will be so patriotic of you.


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Posted by rudy6543 at 11:33 AM : Nov 28, 2008

I don''t have the money, Im facing foreclosure but I''m not sitting here telling everyone else what they should do or how they should spend their time. Get over yourself. Last I knew, no one died and left you in charge!!!!

[debinok1]

I will continue to do as I do every year since I choose not to own a credit card, I will buy what I can afford after bills and groceries, I will buy wisely, and I started buying before halloween with a small gift or 2 every pay day. My son will have a decent christmas and at the most it will cost me about $100.
Going in debt for a holiday is not my idea of a good time. spending time with my kids and my family is a good time.

[erasmus81]

I had to go to another country and didnt try to take it back until it was 6 months old. They said the warranty was only for 6 months I think.

Posted by sockpuppet4 at 06:18 PM : Nov 28, 2008

What? Are you brain dead or something?

You didn''t know how long the warranty was for?

If you are going to purchase something like that from another country, then you need to make sure you are able to return it to that country before the warranty is up. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, you consider it a LOSS.

[frankiesdebi]

shame, shame, on all those stupid people. So much in a hurry to buy a bunch of ***, that is the same price today that it was yesterday. And the poor guy who probably made minimum wage, trampled to death so they could save a lousy buck. So sad.

[boycottchina]

I am always amazed how many brain dead consumers we have in this country!

Knocking people down to get poisoned, and defective poor quality China junk!

PATHETIC!!

[raskal_2]

To trample others to death at walmart in order to satisfy immediate gratification sounds a whole lot like an addict killing his grandmother to get money for the same immediate gratification issue. Wow...No wonder we are in the shape we are in. (So when is Walmart going to ask the taxpayers for a bailout, exactly?)

[mikezembill]

We should no be having trade with any communist country at all CHINA,CUBA,LAOS,NORTH KOREA,VIETNAM THIS SHOULD STOP NOW.

[trillion1]

My Christmas present to myself is having no bills due after Christmas. We are also fortunate that our family isn''t into the idiotcy of all the electronic junk.

[mikezembill]

Just keep shopping wall-mart buy all the S-H-I-T from China you can and when you do not have a job please do not B-I-T-C-H AND ASK FOR HELP!

[andrew_693]

it''s nice to see that the holidays are a season for giving remembering jesus and trampling to death like their lord would do.

[greeneyes222]

Black Friday. Avoid it - and WalMart - at all costs.

[idnnsg]

"What these shoppers did has absolutely nothing to do with religion or the true meaning of Christmas. What happened is called secularism and stupidity." - Credibility2

Statement #1: true.
Statement #2, part A: utter nonsense! "Secularism" has nothing to do with stupidity, though fanatic religiosity certainly does.
Statement #2, part B: True, again. Stupidity IS the cause of most stu.pid behavior.

[trillion1]

Face it. People aren''t too bright. Saving X amount of money on something you don''t need is stupid. Guitar Hero. Yeah, got to have that!

[credibility2]

What these shoppers did has absolutely nothing to do with religion or the true meaning of Christmas. What happened is called secularism and stupidity. I''ll bet none of these items were really needed, or paid for in real cash, or won''t improve the quality of anyone''s life. Don''t blame religion or the Holy Season of Christmas on this commercialism, materialism and secularism.

[of11of]

youre right.
it was them

[stevenga777]

I bet those greedy people are the same greedy American Christian''s who say not to work on Sunday and then after Church on Sunday they go straingt to a resteraunt for lunch causing someone else to have to work. I see it happen every weekend. Greedy hypocrites. BTW..I am US Army retired so don''t call me a foreigner.

[yeswedid]

"Meanwhile, tragedy struck at a Long Island Wal-Mart, after a worker died from being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long store opened Friday, police said."

Yes, the true spirit of Christmas in America...GREED, GREED, GREED. Absolutely disgusting.

[whitemale08]

WOO HOO!!!!

YEA BUDDY!!!!!

THE DEBT-JUNKIES ARE OUT IN FULL FORCE TODAY!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!

THE DEBT-JUNKIES WILL SAVE AMERICA!!!!1

WOO HOO!!! (loud whistle)