U.S. SHOPPERS searched for deals on high-definition televisions and popular toys early on Friday, as retailers hoped that Black Friday would kick off the best holiday shopping season in three years.
While some stores were open on Thursday and many retailers have offered Black Friday deals for weeks, shoppers still lined up late Thursday and early Friday for the annual day after Thanksgiving bargain hunt.
Black Friday is a term adopted by retailers to refer to the time of year when their businesses move into the black, or turns a profit. This year their aim is expected to be about keeping sales momentum that has picked up modestly this year as the economy recovers.
Shoppers were disappointed in some of the offers they could see, although they were still waiting in line for hours before they could get in the door.
"I'm looking at the TV and it says save $70 and I'm like, come on, you've got to be kidding," said Sanjay Patil, as he waited outside a Best Buy Co Inc in Princeton, New Jersey, along with about 50 other bargain hunters before midnight, even though the electronics retailer said stores open at 5 am.
"If it's Black Friday, it has to be 100 or 120 bucks savings minimum."
Others were anticipating the bargains they hoped to get. Nandini Ramkissoon, 19, staked out a spot near the stacks of $69 Blu-ray Disc players and $198 HDTVs set to go on sale at 5 a.m. (1000 GMT) inside a Wal-Mart in Secaucus, N.J.
"Wal-Mart is pretty good because they're letting their customers inside before time, and it's really cool," Ramkissoon said.
She and her parents arrived at 7 pm on Thursday, 10 hours early, to make sure they could get the TV they wanted.
Wal-Mart opened many of its U.S. discount stores on Thanksgiving Day and the doors stayed open overnight, a tactic it adopted after an employee was trampled to death two years ago on Black Friday.
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