Black Friday gets off to a frigid start

Analysts expected moderate sales this year as consumers struggle with the slumping housing market, a credit crunch, rising food and fuel costs and uncertainty about their jobs.

At the cavernous Palisades Mall in the New York City suburb of West Nyack, which opened its doors at 3:00 a.m., lines formed outside of the Apple Inc, Macy's Inc, Old Navy and Circuit City Inc stores. Many in the crowd were sustained by offers of free coffee.

Known as "Black Friday," the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday marks the first day of the holiday shopping season for most consumers and a time to snag cheap deals, freebies and sales.

"Black Friday" once marked the day many retailers turned a profit, or went into the black, for the year.

It used to be the busiest shopping day of the year, but procrastinators and others looking for last-minute gifts have transferred that honor to the Saturday before Christmas.

The Thanksgiving weekend can make up as much as 10 percent of all holiday sales, according to retail analyst Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group, while the ten days before Christmas can account for 40 percent of the total, she said.

On Black Friday, many retailers open their doors well before dawn, offering deep discounts. This year J.C. Penney Co Inc opened at 4 a.m., Toys "R" Us and Best Buy Co Inc opened at 5:00 and Macy's Inc opened its stores at 6:00.

Some malls even opened shortly after midnight.

At a Best Buy store in Geneva, Illinois, about 150 people lined up in bitter cold weather that some veteran Black Friday shoppers said was the worst they'd seen yet. They also said the crowds were far smaller than previous years.