When Every Day Feels Like Black Friday

There's Cyber Monday, Super Saturday; Wal-Mart Even Seeks 48-Hour Day

For two hours, Steve Brown stood in line outside of the Best Buy in Gaithersburg with a single objective: to score the 46-inch Samsung flat-panel TV at a blockbuster $700 discount.

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He was not alone. Roughly 300 people crowded outside Best Buy's doors as an icy wind whipped through the crowd -- a common sight on the day after Thanksgiving, when stores stage massive sales to get shoppers revved up for the holidays. But this was nearly two weeks before Thanksgiving, and the frenzy had already begun.

"I'm not a crowd person," said Brown, who lives in Reston and ended up with three TVs and a Wii gaming system. "But the savings on the TVs were enough to drive me out here."

Once heralded as the symbolic kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is sacred no more. Retailers this year began touting door-buster discounts weeks before anyone thought about roasting a turkey. And the deals will continue long after the leftovers are eaten, with online retailers and even infomercials touting events to prolong the hype.

Concern that shoppers will rein in their spending this season is driving many of these promotions, several industry experts said. The National Retail Federation forecast that retail sales in November and December would grow 4 percent -- the smallest gain since 2002 and below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent. A survey by Discover Financial Services released this week showed that 55 percent of consumers said they would spend less on holiday shopping this year.

The less money shoppers have to spend, the more aggressive the competition becomes for their business.

"Retailers are getting a little anxious, and they're trying to encourage consumers to spend whatever disposable income they have with them instead of their competitors," said Bonnie Carlson, interim president of the Promotion Marketing Association, a trade group. "Tougher times require tougher measures."

Wal-Mart has led the way, slashing prices as early as October in such key categories as toys, home and apparel. Then on Nov. 2, it unveiled five more door-buster deals to mark the opening of its in-store Christmas shops. This week, it announced that hot items would be discounted on its Web site on Thanksgiving day -- including a Garmin Global Positioning System cut back 30 percent, to $298.87 -- and that additional secret specials would be available in stores Saturday and Sunday.

Oh yeah, Black Friday is expected to be pretty busy, too.

"We know that a lot of people are impacted, certainly with economic pressures," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "We're spreading it out also just for convenience."

Best Buy held exclusive shopping events for members of its loyalty program, Reward Zone, at about 70 stores on Nov. 11, nearly two weeks before Black Friday. In addition to the discounted television, the company touted a $600 laptop and printer package, and savings on a high-end digital camera and lens. The Gaithersburg store also received 150 hard-to-find Nintendo Wii gaming systems for the event.

Gaithersburg residents Karl Bejo, 27, and his wife waited in line for about half an hour to get inside, where he picked up a wireless router and ink for his printer and debated whether to splurge on a 50-inch, high-definition TV for his new home. Bejo said his wife coached him on preparing for Black Friday -- long lines, limited product, big sales -- because they expected a large crowd.