Shoppers back in Black (Friday)

The traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season started late Thursday and roared to full throttle yesterday as bargain-hunters jammed the stores. In this economy, retailers know, keeping the momentum going is essential for success.

The early birds got the deals on a Black Friday that started, in some cases, on Thursday and was marred by several fights and at least one pepper-spraying incident. But observers say there are plenty more bargains to come, both in stores and online, during a holiday shopping season that’s being closely watched given the fragile state of the economy.

Locally, the mood among shoppers still digesting Thanksgiving dinner was generally upbeat — but determined.

After JCPenney opened its doors at Polaris Fashion Place — by the then-almost-leisurely hour of 3:30 a.m. — Paula Russell was among the hard-core shoppers who already had made several stops.

“I started yesterday,” she said. “We went to Old Navy, then we tried Target, but the line was too long. I think it’s fun. I look forward to it.”

After buying silver friendship bracelets for her daughter and her daughter’s friend, she planned to drive to Big Lots, then Toys R Us.

“We have not been to bed,” said Darlene Bailey, who had teamed with her sister to grab doorbuster bargains at Toys R Us, Walmart and Target. “We’ve been out since 9 p.m. We’re running on Red Bull.”

 It appeared to be a strong kickoff to the shopping season, one which the National Retail Federation predicts will see a 2.8 percent increase in sales compared with last year.

 While sales totals weren’t available, Craig Johnson of Custom Growth Partners was predicting the strongest-ever Black Friday in terms of sales, which he estimated at $27 billion, three times the daily sales average in November and December.

 Although the decision to open stores at midnight or earlier was criticized by some retail workers and consumers as cutting into family time, the move clearly had its fans.

 “Early-morning openings appear to have been well worth it for both retailers and holiday shoppers,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, in a statement late yesterday morning. “Strong store traffic and sales on Black Friday are a perfect example of how retailers are playing a significant role in powering the economic recovery.”

While merchants won’t know until later whether midnight bargains siphoned away sales from other times, “I think shoppers are shoppers,” said Matt Wilson, who follows retail for SBC Advertising. “The crowds aren’t as feverish later in the day, but they’re still out and about. I think everyone’s going to do really well.”

Major retailers are working to make sure they do, well aware that one day does not constitute an entire holiday season.

 “We have put together an entire promotional program for the whole season. So we don’t shoot all our bullets on the day after Thanksgiving,” said Jamie Brooks, senior vice president of retail services for Sears Holdings.

When the action began in central Ohio late Thanksgiving night, parking lots that normally would have been empty were packed, and traffic was as thick as on any sunny Saturday afternoon.

Going into the big weekend, which traditionally begins the Christmas shopping season, the National Retail Federation predicted that 152 million consumers would either hit stores or shop online this weekend, an increase of 10.1 percent from last year.

The area’s big shopping malls were packed.

Michael Minns, general manager of Polaris Fashion Place, said this was the first year the mall had a significant number of stores open at midnight — about three dozen.

“The early openings definitely spread out traffic,” Minns said. “Those merchants that opened at midnight say it was well worth it, and I think it’s working out well for everyone. It makes it a little less daunting for people to come out throughout the day who just want to come out and shop and not have to deal with the extreme crush of people.”

While officials at Easton Town Center had no official sales figures, “Anecdotally, things have been steadily busy,” said spokesman Brock Schmaltz. “Last year, nobody opened at midnight. This year, we had 24 stores open then. When I got here at 5:30, the place was packed.”

The Mall at Tuttle Crossing opened “unofficially” at midnight, with about 34 stores opening doors. “The parking lots were jammed,” said spokeswoman Dee Holleran. “It was a polite crush, but a crush. Those were people who were bound and determined to get those bargains.

“That midnight hour was significantly more successful than any of us ever expected.”

Many retailers had systems in place to make sure people in line had a chance to buy some of the limited-supply merchandise that had lured them there.

As the clock ticked closer to the store’s 5 a.m. opening, Dave Allen, manager of the Kmart on Bethel Road, and members of his staff handed out stamped sheets that reserved merchandise, mostly electronics items such as TV sets and tablet computers.

But even with the sheets in hand, customers made a mad dash through the doors when the store opened, snapping up every shopping cart at the front of the store in five minutes and rushing to the back and the electronics desk.

“It took about 10 minutes to get all the people in,” Allen said. “I think we had at least 100 more than last year, and that was a big crowd. That’s good. That’s what we need.”

The crowds were no surprise to one local observer.

“I think people are in the mood to splurge after being frugal for so long,” said local retail analyst Chris Boring of Boulevard Strategies. “They’re into ‘fatigue fatigue.’  ”

Although no serious incidents were reported locally, a few did arise across the country.

 As many as 20 people were injured after a woman used pepper spray on other shoppers at a Walmart in Los Angeles to try to gain the upper hand in buying an Xbox game system. Pepper spray came into play at another incident, when off-duty officers in Kinston, N.C., used it to subdue rowdy shoppers at a Walmart there.

In Manhattan, a group of shoppers upset that Hollister’s flagship store was not opening at midnight like other locations apparently broke into the store and stole a large quantity of clothing.

 In Ohio, Black Friday shoppers at the Walmart near Port Clinton had to leave their bargains behind when a car accident knocked out power just before midnight.

In the Toledo suburb of Oregon, police responded to three separate reports of fighting at a Walmart on Thursday night, in one case, over towels selling for $1.88.

 Some retailers made heavily-discounted items available online starting on Thursday, giving early shoppers a crack at avoiding the crowds.

 These online sales will extend through the weekend and will peak again on Cyber Monday because of the online sales push retailers make that day. ComScore, an online-behavior tracking firm, estimates Cyber Monday shopping will reach $1.2 billion this year, easily outpacing the $700 million it estimates consumers spent online on Black Friday.

But for some, a click of the mouse just wouldn’t do.

 A small crowd waited for the Staples store at the Lennox Center to open its doors at 6 a.m. Manager Stacey Barton said she expected customers to hit the store all day long rather than just in the first couple of hours, a marked shift from other retailers who were overrun with Black Friday fanatics.

One Staples customer, Nathan Kaplan, even said he had never shopped on Black Friday before.

“I hate crowds,” he said. “But I came for the Sidley chair they have on sale. You can’t beat it — it’s 90 bucks off.”

Dispatch reporter Marla Matzer Rose contributed to this story.