Eager Shoppers Ring It Up on 'Red-Eye Thursday'

Tracey Oskey battled bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to Haggar outlet in Leesburg, but said the sales were worth it. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

At midnight yesterday, 30-something gal pals Tracey Oskey and Jodi Weier kicked off their Black Friday shopping spree in classic Washington style: stuck in traffic.

"Oh my God, this is insane," Oskey said as she stared down the stretch of red tail lights on Route 7 in Loudoun County headed toward Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets.

The 5 a.m. early bird special is so last year. For the first time, retailers across the country threw open their doors at 12 a.m. to throngs of shoppers, turning the day after Thanksgiving into a nearly 24-hour shopping smorgasbord.

"I don't even call it Black Friday anymore. I'm calling it red-eye Thursday," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at consulting firm NPD Group, who hit several midnight openings and early bird specials. "I feel like I'm in college pulling an all-nighter."

Black Friday is the symbolic start of the holiday shopping season, when retailers showcase door-busting discounts on everything from plasma TV sets to Barbies as they jockey for customers and, perhaps more importantly, buzz. A successful day can give a retailer momentum that will last until Christmas. Midnight openings are the latest craze, luring shoppers before they have barely digested their turkey.

"Sales are important, but they're secondary. It's about getting the people" said Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation, a trade group. "Retailers hope that the people who came into their stores today will be back throughout the holiday."

Black Friday earned its nickname because it marks the day when retailers traditionally went from losing money to making a profit, or being in the black. The research firm ShopperTrak predicts that yesterday's foot traffic will be the second-heaviest of the year, following the Saturday before Christmas. By Sunday, retailers expect to have seen 137 million people, up about 2 million from last year, according to the NRF.

Oskey's husband was out of town on a business trip for the phone installation company they run together, Telforward. So her parents came to her home in Tysons Corner at noon on Thursday for turkey and stuffing. They were out the door by 5:30.

Oskey threw some clothes into a backpack and headed west to Loudoun County, where she had booked a shop-and-stay package that Lansdowne Resort, near the outlets, was marketing for the midnight opening. Weier met her at the hotel, and by 9 p.m. they settled in with a bottle of merlot from the minibar and "Grey's Anatomy" on the television.

By 10:45, they were visibly dragging.

"I said that I can make it," Oskey announced in a determined voice as she mapped out her plan of attack in the hotel lobby.

A second wind arrived in the form of hot tea, coffee and a booklet of coupons -- part of the hotel package. Oskey made one last stop at her room to dump off her belongings before heading to the outlets. She pocketed her credit card and driver's license and walked out the door, unencumbered by a purse.