UPDATE 2-US department stores gain Black Friday traffic

* Sales rise to $45 bln over Black Friday weekend -NRF

* Traffic up 8.7 percent

* More people shopping department stores, apparel sellers

* Fewer shop at discounters
(Recasts, adds analyst comments)

By Martinne Geller and Brad Dorfman

NEW YORK/CHICAGO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers spent
6.4 percent more this Black Friday weekend than last year and
hit department stores and clothing shops, rather than focusing
on discounters as they had done in recent years.

Analysts said that after two years of flocking to Wal-Mart
(WMT.N) and even dollar stores in order to save money during the
economic crisis, more confident consumers may have been ready for a
change.

"Shopping is an entertainment, as well as an outing and
going to the same-old same-old gets stale," Kin Caughey
Forrest, senior equity analyst Fort Pitt Capital Group, said.

Also, while not looking solely for the lowest price, shoppers
still spent cautiously, focusing on deals and shunning stores that
did not have compelling discounts.

"At Wal-Mart, people were literally buying the sale items
and avoiding other parts of the store," Patty Edwards, chief
investment officer at Trutina Financial.

Total retail traffic will have risen 8.7 percent to 212 million
shoppers from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, compared with the same
period in 2009, according to the survey from the National Retail
Federation.

Shoppers will have spent $45 billion online and in stores
over the four days, according to the survey, which includes
estimated spending for Sunday. That compares with $41.2 billion
in 2009.

Spending per person rose to $365.34 from $343.31 a year
earlier, NRF said.

The NRF survey, conducted by BIGresearch, showed that 52 percent
of shoppers surveyed said they planned to go to department stores, up
from 49.4 percent a year earlier. Clothing stores also gained, at
24.4 percent versus 22.9 percent a year earlier.

But discounters fell, with 40.3 percent saying they shopped
at those stores, compared with 43.2 percent last year.

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For a graphic on Black Friday traffic and holiday sales:

http:/r.reuters.com/dyk66q

Reuters Insider reports: [ID:nRTV166827] [ID:nRTV161989]

For other holiday retail stories [ID:nUSHOLIDAY]

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Overall, the start to the holiday shopping season showed
that consumers, whose spending accounts for about 70 percent of
the U.S. economy, were willing to open their wallets more and buy
more than just basics.

NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis said that jewelry, an emblematic
discretionary items, was a big seller, with 22 percent more people
saying they bought jewelry this weekend than last year.

But the effects of the recession and economic meltdown lingered
and while experts still expect this to be the best holiday season in
three years for retail, they do not see a return to willy-nilly
spending.

"We certainly aren't back to 2007," Trutina Financial's Edwards
said.

Edwards pegged Limited Brands Inc (LTD.N) as one of the
best performers over the weekend.

At the same time, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which is trying to end a
string of six quarters with falling sales at its U.S. discount
stores, "didn't hit it out of the park, which they needed to do," she
said.

Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian Sozzi said that those
retailers with effective promotioms, like Gap Inc (GPS.N),
Aeropostale (ARO.N) and Abercrombie & Fitch co (ANF.N) were among the
weekend's winners.

SMALLER DISCOUNTS

Shoppers said that discounts were less generous this year than
last year.

Shanell James, who was shopping on Sunday morning in Manhattan's
Harlem neighborhood at a Marshalls store operated by TJX Cos Inc
(TJX.N), said the weekend's discounts were less steep than a year
ago, but also that her own finances were improved.

"The prices went up from last year," James said. "It
doesn't affect me much but it will affect a lot of low-income
families."

The average store discount was around 50 percent off on
Friday and 40 percent on Saturday, Marshal Cohen, chief retail
industry analyst at NPD Group, said. That is less of a discount
than last year.

While traffic and spending showed gains, it is still too early to
say whether retailers will be winners this holiday season, especially
if early online and store deals have already gotten consumers to
complete the bulk of their shopping.

"It remains to be seen for the consumer how much more spend
they have in them," said Chris Donnelly, senior executive in
consulting firm Accenture's retail practice.

At the end of the weekend, the average consumer will have
completed about 38.6 percent of their shopping, a figure
roughly in line with last year, the retail federation said.

The start to the holiday shopping season was spread over
more days this year, with retailers offering deals earlier in
the week.

SHOPPING EARLY, ONLINE

Traffic to stores on Friday rose 2.2 percent from a year ago,
according to ShopperTrak, but sales rose by a mere 0.3 percent, which
shows that where shoppers made purchases, it was often on discounted
items.

The difference between those tepid numbers and the larger
gains seen in the NRF survey could be indications of how much
more shopping for the holidays is being done online and on
Thanksgiving Day as more retailers open their doors on the
holiday itself, Accenture's Donnelly said.

Data from analytics firm comScore (SCOR.O) on Sunday showed
online holiday spending rose 9 percent to $648 million on
Friday, while Thanksgiving online sales rose 28 percent to $407
million as retailers pushed deals to attract shoppers taking a break
from family dinners and football games. [ID:nN28174192]
(Additional reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Matthew Lewis and
Marguerita Choy)