Shoppers go Black Friday deal hunting

Like others in line, Wishne and his friends were looking to buy high-definition televisions and laptop computers. Best Buy had a limited number of Sony laptops for $399 and Toshiba notebooks for $229.

"Despite the tent, we've been freezing almost the whole time," Wishne said. "But it was worth it for the great deals we got ... These will make for excellent presents."

At more upscale locales, such as the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, where many stores did not run big sales, business was normal.

At the Glendale Galleria mall near Los Angeles, jewelry shops including Whitehall Jewelers were practically deserted, with few shoppers at upscale boutiques such as L'Occitane en Provence and Williams-Sonoma.

Stores such as AnnTaylor and Talbots Inc's J. Jill that advertised 15 to 25 percent off of their clothes for mature women had shoppers, but crowds were subdued.

"People are breaking down the doors for the promotions, which is typical; but the stores catering to luxury are not going to go out of their way with the promotions right now," said Michael Unger, director of the consumer product and retail practice of Archstone Consulting. He said upscale stores such as Jimmy Choo and Gucci were quiet, but stores catering to teenage girls, such as Guess Inc, Urban Outfitter Inc and Forever 21 were crowded.

"If you're going to shop for the holidays, you might as well shop at 50 percent off today," said Anabelle Frausto, a 22-year-old college student shopping at a Los Angeles-area Aeropostale Inc, where everything was half off.

"Twenty percent off is not worth it -- they'll be having that for the rest of the year," she said.

TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER

Scott Bernhardt, chief operating officer of weather tracker Planalytics, said Friday morning was "significantly" colder than the year-ago day after Thanksgiving and than earlier this week in areas such as Boston, Chicago and New York.

"The economy is going to determine whether people spend $100 or $125, but the weather's going to determine whether they buy the coats and hats," Bernhardt said. "There are going to be a lot more -- I mean a lot more -- inclined for the coats, hats, scarves and sweaters."

But Black Friday is always a popular day to buy toys, and this year was no different.

Braving the cold, crowds lined up outside Toys "R" Us in New York's Times Square, anxious for deals such as 50 percent off Star Wars Transformers and Dora's Magical Castle and Castle accessories from 5:00 a.m. EST to noon.

Toys "R" Us Chief Executive Jerry Storch said the line was the longest that store executives had seen on a Black Friday, except for the year that the Nintendo Wii went on sale.

FAO Schwarz Chief Executive Ed Schmults said store traffic and sales on Thursday and Friday led him to be "cautiously optimistic that we're going to have a very solid holiday."

On Thursday, the fourth Thanksgiving in a row that the store has been open, traffic doubled and sales rose 33 percent.