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Ready, Set, Shop! Millions Hit The Malls To Score Black Friday Deals

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Super Bowl of shopping had an early start again this year, and was far from over as evening fell.

Many Black Friday bargain hunters were out of bed and out the door early. The newly-renovated Menlo Park Mall in Edison, New Jersey opened at 6 a.m.

"Victoria's Secret had a two-for-25 deal, and Urban Outfitters had some things for sale, so I really enjoyed myself," said Shasa Revell. "It was a really pleasant day."

Pleasant is not a word often used to describe a day known for deep discounts and a profoundly hectic atmosphere. But CBS2 found many mellow shoppers – in part because some of them may have started their shopping even earlier.

The Menlo Park Mall was also open Thanksgiving Day, until 1 a.m. Macy's locations around the area kept their doors open through the night.

Sabrina Rajkumar, 36, a writer from New York, started shopping with her stepmom at Macy's at 7:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving and was just wrapping up at 5:30 a.m. Friday. She found a $50 bedding set and a dress for her niece marked down to $25 from $74 and Godiva chocolates for $8.

"I'm from New York and I've never done Black Friday before,'' she said. "We just wanted to experience the madness.''

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She said she didn't think she'd like it since she usually buys personalized gifts at places like Etsy, but she had fun. A highlight was free samples of espresso from machines on sale.

"It was crazy, not as crazy as I expected, but there were still a lot of folks there up to the wee hours,'' she said.

Crystal Gomez, of Queens, started shopping at 11 p.m. Thursday and was loaded with bags from Toys R Us where she picked up Barbies and other gifts by 5 a.m. She also had shopped at Macy's, Gap, Old Navy and Victoria's Secret. She shops Black Friday every year and started so early to avoid the crowds.

"It's not really crowded now but it will be later,'' she said.

For staffers at the Toys R Us in Times Square, the day was bittersweet. It's the last Black Friday at the flagship store, which is giving up its lease next year, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.

Bronx resident Gloria Romero, 23, and her friend, Ashley Quesoo, 19, woke up at 2 a.m. to go to Sephora. They picked up one item, a Dita Von Teese contour palette makeup set.

"It was sold out online,'' Romero said.

They said waking up that early was worth it.

"We had quite a bit of fun, we got to experiment with makeup and it wasn't crowded,'' Romero said.

At the Queens Center Mall, many businesses were offering big markdowns including at least 50 percent off the entire store.

"For 100 bucks I bought all my family clothes," one woman told CBS2's Ilana Gold.

"I got a coat for $260 and I ended up getting a sweat suit for free," said David Gordon of Chelsea.

"I'm looking around to make sure that I find the best deals I can today," one man said, adding that he's looking for "some more winter stuff, but I'm looking more for the spring right now."

And some weren't after deals at all. Shoppers lined up at Footlocker hours before it opened to get their hands on the newest Michael Jordan sneakers before they sell out.

"You buy them now, two weeks from now the value goes up," said Steve Culqui, of East Elmhurst.

The shopping center was not nearly as crowded as Black Fridays in the past, Gold reported.

"It's been very quiet this year. I expected more people to be here," said Jonathan Wigfall. "Now, it's like a ghost town."

A mall spokesman said it's likely because half of the stores opened at 6 p.m. Thursday and never closed and a lot of shoppers skipped Thanksgiving meals in exchange for savings.

One shopper told Gold she arrived at the mall at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and had still not left.

And as CBS2's Sonia Rincon reported, there was still a robust crowd in Herald Square late Friday evening, although not as intense as seen in some past years.

There were a few fights around the country – including at one Walmart in Texas. But stores such as Best Buy handed out tickets to stagger customers and avoid pushing and shoving.

The relative lack of intensity had more timid shoppers such as Lazaya Domen braving Black Friday for the first time this year in Herald Square.

"It's like, a new experience for me," Domen said. "I didn't get trampled or nothing."

Many Black Friday deals now last for days rather than just one day.

"It's still one of the most important shopping days. Retailers can't dismiss it. They still have to have a Black Friday strategy," said Chris Christopher of IHS Global Insight. "However, it's just not as intense as it used to be."

Indeed, Marshall Cohen, chief retail analyst at the NPD Group, said the discounts are starting earlier and running longer -- the reason is competition online. That was why so many places open on Thanksgiving.

"So stores were saying, 'Well wait a minute, let's not give them an untethered opportunity to steal our market share. We're going to go out and open on Thanksgiving,'" Cohen told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.

Overall, the National Retail Federation expected about 30 million to shop on Thanksgiving, compared with 99.7 million on Black Friday. Overall, the trade group estimated about 135.8 million people will be shopping during the four-day weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. And it expected sales overall for November and December to rise 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion compared with the same period last year.

But people may not be in the mood to shop much this year. Unemployment has settled into a healthy 5 percent rate, but shoppers still grapple with stagnant wages that are not keeping pace with rising daily costs like rent. And years later, they still insist on the deep discounts they got used to retailers offering during the recession.

This year shoppers will notice a lot more security. The NYPD isn't taking any chances; officers are keeping a close eye on all of the local malls and doing extra patrols to make sure everyone is safe, Gold reported.

Meanwhile, employees said the H&M store in Roosevelt Field Mall had to be shut down around 9 a.m. because of a small fire.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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