Stores court shoppers on Black Friday

Stores court shoppers on Black Friday

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shoppers turned up early for holiday sales at stores on Friday, but the annual pilgrimage appeared thinner this year and many consumers vowed to spend less due to a shrinking economy.
Retailers from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to Macy's Inc, Kohl's Corp and Best Buy Co Inc opened their doors in the early hours of "Black Friday," offering steep discounts to scores of shoppers who waited in line.
In the New York City suburb of Valley Stream, a man working at a Wal-Mart died as a throng of shoppers broke down the doors trying to enter a store, police said. Four others were injured and taken to the hospital in what the company called a "tragic" incident.
Most stores offer major discounts on Black Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, hoping to ring in billions of dollars through year's end. Some chains opened during the holiday on Thursday to capture business even earlier.
Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst with NPD Group, said that early store traffic appeared about 25 percent lighter than a year ago. People seemed to be more selective about the shops they visited and weren't staying inside stores as long.

CNBC Video-Black Friday Retail Outlook
An outlook on the holiday shopping season, with Gerald Storch, Toys R Us chairman/CEO and Dana Telsey, Telsey Advisory Group