toledoblade.com --

Amid the hundreds of poker-faced shoppers and frantic bargain hunters searching the aisles of the Toys 'R' Us store in South Toledo Friday morning, Richard Hague carried something no one else seemed to have found: a smile.

More specifically, Mr. Hague, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., wore the kind of big, ear-to-ear joyful grin that can only be worn by a grandfather surrounded by his grandchildren.

Black Friday shoppers enjoy the chaos

"I'm not worried about the Depression. I just want to see my grandchildren be happy," Mr. Hague said. As he has for almost a decade, Mr. Hague and his family, who live all over the country, spent Thanksgiving in Toledo, then journeyed out on one of the nation's busiest shopping days yesterday so his 10 grandchildren could pick out their own Christmas gifts.

"We don't normally get a chance to all be together during the rest of the year, so I'm just having a great time," Mr. Hague said.

As the nation continued to cut back on discretionary spending, shoppers were out in force na-tionwide yesterday scooping up bargains, but being very careful about what they spent.

Shoppers in metro Toledo braved cold, morning traffic, and long lines to grab early morning "door-buster" bargains at area retailers on Black Friday, the traditional start of the all-important holiday shopping season.

Cadence Jordan, 3, of Toledo had plenty of time to snooze as she and her mom waited in a checkout line that extended to the back of the store at Toys 'R' Us in Toledo.
( THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT )

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However, the day was not without incident. At least two people broke into six or more vehicles and stole what police said was a large number of gifts at the Toys 'R' Us parking lot at 5001 Monroe St. in West Toledo. Police said two suspects were taken into custody shortly after the 10:30 a.m. incident. Their names were being withheld pending charges, officers said.

Around Toledo, some consumers waited hours in the dark and cold to enter stores such as Toys 'R' Us and JCPenney, which opened at 4 a.m., to receive savings of half-off or more on certain items. Five hours later, customers still faced long lines to check out.

"I still like the items on sale," said Rhonda Allen of Holland, who spent much of her morning standing in line - first at Target, and later at Toys 'R' Us. "I got to Target at 5 a.m. and I got out of the store at 7:48 [a.m.], and most of the time in between was spent standing in line," she said.

At the Appliance Center in Maumee, president John Oswald said the parking lot was full at 6 a.m. when the store opened. By 7 p.m., 1,000 people had walked through the door. On a normal Friday, the store would see 150 customers.

"It's been a total surprise. This is the second-best holiday start for us in 50 years. I think people are much more relaxed than they've been in a year," Mr. Oswald explained. "They're buying 50-inch plasmas for $670 and 60-inch big screens for $899. It's been way beyond our expectations. All these buyers are buying, and they're taking it home with them."

Though the first nationwide sales numbers won't be available until today, early reports indicated bigger crowds than last year. Analysts monitoring the malls said shoppers were less frenetic, having researched deals before going shopping. Extended and earlier hours also gave shoppers more time to grab deals both online and in stores than a year ago.

Most Wal-Mart stores were open on Thanksgiving to prevent the mad dash of shoppers for its 5 a.m. specials yesterday.

But even with precautions, police in the southern California city of Upland said a Wal-Mart there closed its doors for several hours before dawn after some Black Friday shoppers began fighting over bargain merchandise. There were no injuries and no arrests.

ShopLocal, a subsidiary of publisher Gannett Co., said yesterday traffic was up 27 percent at top retailers' online sites featuring their Black Friday ads.

An average of about 1,000 people were in line for midnight openings at Toys 'R' Us stores, CEO Gerald Storch said. After setting aside 100 Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters for each location, Toys 'R' Us came back with more shipments of the hot toy for several of its stores yesterday.

In Indianapolis, police responded to a reported disturbance at a Toys "R" Us store. The Indianapolis Star reported that fighting broke out about midnight as people lined up in the parking lot looking to buy Zhu Zhu Pets.

While shoppers in the Toledo area snapped up bargains at retail outlets early, crowds had thinned substantially at many stores by late morning as "door-buster" stocks were depleted or limited-time sales expired.

"The 'door-busters' are always about the same; enough to get you out the door in the morning, but almost not enough to make you stand in line," said Barbara Herzog of Holland, who went out at 4 a.m. yesterday for an extended day of shopping. With six children among the 15 people she was buying gifts for, Mrs. Herzog planned her morning assault with the meticulousness of an army general.

"I wrote down all the items I wanted and what stores had the best deals. Then it was Kohl's first, then Target, Wal-Mart, KMart, and Toys 'R' Us," she said. "Always electronics first - the portable DVD player, the car DVD player, the laptop computer, which I didn't get - and then the toys."

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said yesterday he expects more customers to shop closer to Christmas and sees the shopping season stretching into January.

"I think it is going to be a tough holiday season …The brands that have lost connection with their customers are going to have difficulty," Mr. Dunn told Reuters in a telephone interview.

While most retail stores opened very early yesterday to grab their share of the holiday gift pie - Old Navy and Ulta Beauty at Westfield Franklin Park opened at 3 a.m. - some stores never closed the night before. Shoppers at Wal-Mart filled their carts with early-bird specials at 1 a.m. and walked the aisles waiting for special prices to become valid at the registers at 4 a.m.

Ruben and Christine Trevino of Sylvania were among those for whom 4 a.m. marked only a halfway point in their annual Black Friday excursion. The Sylvania couple started their shopping journey at midnight, and by 10 a.m., their pickup truck was full.

"Actually, we cut back this year," Mrs. Trevino said, chuckling, as she sought room in the back seat for more items they had just bought at Meijer. "We spent $1,700 at Toys 'R' Us last year, and this year, we only spent $900. We weren't looking for specific items this year, we were just looking for the best deals."

Along with good deals, many shoppers such as Gloria Schoch and her daughter, Melanie Pettypool, found frustration. The economy will severely limit their gift-giving, they said, and limited supplies of advertised specials were hard to find later in the morning. "We've had to cut our spending considerably," Mrs. Schoch said as she pushed a cart at the Target store in Spring Meadows. "I'm only going to spend about $25 on each person instead of the $200 or so that I have in the past."

With unemployment at 10.2 percent, price is more important to consumers this year than selection, quality, or convenience, according to the National Retail Federation. It estimates that shoppers will spend an average of $682.74 on Christmas gifts this year, down from $705.01 last year.

Recently engaged Jeanne Hargreaves of Toledo wasn't among those out in predawn hours. She and her friend, Victoria Hisey of Temperance, arrived at Franklin Park at a more reasonable hour: 8:30 a.m.

"This is our one stop," Miss Hargreaves explained, as she and Miss Hisey carried loads of bags from different stores in the mall. "We've done pretty well; got a lot of good deals. I was actually planning on cutting down this year, but it didn't really work out that way."

Information from The Blade's news services was used in this report.

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:
lvellequette@theblade.com
or 419-724-6091.

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