Up all night: Black Friday shoppers

Still stuffed from Thanksgiving feasts, shoppers left their tables hungry for Black Friday deals, with many going strong all night long.

They binged on near-epic buying sprees that began last night and were still going strong before daybreak.

"We've been going since 9 o'clock last night," Michelle Hermanns, 21, said at 4:54 a.m. today, clutching bags on her way out of the Cherry Hill Mall.

The mall parking lot was as full as any weekend afternoon, and lines were forming outside some stores that still had not opened.

Hermanns was with Chip Tagland, also 21. The pair began their hunt 45 miles away, at Philadelphia Premium Outlets, in Limerick, Pa., where Route 422 was backed up late last night with shopping traffic.

There, they jumped on their best find of the shopping jaunt - Columbia fleece jackets. Normally priced $45 to $50, they paid $17. They went back and bought more because they thought the deal was so good.

Then, it was on to Cherry Hill. Still going strong after eight hours of bargain hunting, they couple was undaunted.

"We're college students, so we're used to it," Hermanns said.

John Pszenny and Michele Woloch, also started their shopping on Thanksgiving.

"We've been going since 10 o'clock (Thursday)," Pszenny said outside JC Penney. The two had already shopped at Best Buy, Kmart and Target at other shopping centers.

And Shirleen Scott, 41, of Beverly, started shopping 9:30 p.m. Thursday. She was leaving the Cherry Hill Mall at 5 a.m.

"I started at Walmart," Scott said. Then, she spent part of the night at Franklin Mills in Northeast Philadelphia before taking a nap at home. She was back at the Cherry Hill Mall this morning.

In fact, consumers were being advised by authorities to be cautious in shopping during overnight hours. Already, there was a report of someone being robbed of a wallet at gunpoint at Franklin Mills shortly after 3 a.m.

And, at a Walmart in Los Angeles, authorities say 20 people suffered minor injuries when a shopper used pepper spray during a confrontation shortly after the store opened on Thursday evening.

Cautions aside, the lure of the deal is powerful. Many retailers have grown ever more-sophisticated at targeting customers. Sites such as Facebook collect troves of data about users for advertisers to sift through.

Coupon sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and Dealyo gain valuable entrance into inboxes and pump up Black Friday deals.

Those marketing tools, combined with 24-hour presence at retail centers, is too powerful to resist for the millions of shoppers flocking to stores today, experts say.

The Black Friday rush at King of Prussia Mall, the East Coast's largest indoor shopping mall, began earlier than ever. Thirty-five specialty and department stores opened at midnight. Others opened at 4 a.m. or later.

Mall Manager Kathy Smith said shoppers came out in full force, some dressed in pajamas, with what seemed to be an unusually jovial outlook given the economy.

Smith said that it was still too hard to gauge by mid-morning whether there were more customers overall than last year. But she was seeing plenty of shoppers.

The parking lot was packed by 9 a.m., a sign that many shoppers had, indeed, ventured out earlier than in prior years and were busy scavenging for the kind of bargains many feel can only be found on the highly-publicized shopping day.

Inside, stores that catered to high-income shoppers were decidedly less crowded, than those targeting customers were in the working class and middle class income range.

Cartier and Nieman Marcus, for example, felt no need to open super early, instead letting customers in at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively, to peruse high end merchandise.

"Customers are still looking for the good deals, "said Melissa Cook, store manager at JC Penney.

Penney's cookware department was among the most crowded as customers lined up for deeply discounted cutlery, coffee makers and other appliances manufactured under the JC Penney brand name. The store offered the merchandise with deep rebates.

King of Prussia Mall and store officials said they expected shopper volume to increase steadily through afternoon, as unseasonably warm temperatures seem to have lured even more people from their post-thanksgiving slumber in search of gifts.

Jesse Tron, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), said that although he had no real-time data for today, projections for Black Friday this year were calling for more spending than last year.

"According to our consumer surveys, 34 percent said they planned to shop on Black Friday," Tron noted. "That's equivalent to 81 million people 16 years or older. That's up from 31 percent last year."

The ICSC survey was conducted with Goldman Sachs. The survey noted that the past two years were a boon compared to 2009, when only 26 percent of consumers said they planned to shop on Black Friday.

Tron said the increase in shoppers is most likely attributed to continued economic uncertainty, which drives bargain hunters even more.

The ICSC is a trade association for the shopping center industry with 55,000 members worldwide.

And, the National Retail Federation, or NFR, another trade group, is also projecting an increase. The percentage of people who said they were "definitely" shopping jumped from 27 percent in 2010 to 33 percent this year.

That NFR survey of 8,502 consumers was conducted this month by BIGresearch.

For the first time, the NFR-sponsored survey asked shoppers how they keep track of all the sales and promotions.

Half of respondents said they used circulars. One-third got their information from TV commercials. And one-quarter relied on coupon websites.

The survey also found more consumers were keeping track of coupons sent by retailers, and postings on social media sites.

The combination of marketing techniques was in evidence early on at the Cherry Hill Mall.

One woman had so many bags that she was hunched over the trunk of her car, hastily rearranging its content.

"This is crazy," she muttered to a passerby in the parking lot.

It was 4:20 a.m.

Later in the day at the Cherry Hill Mall, many shoppers were in a good mood and gushed over the bargains they had found.

"We got more than what we needed," said Michael Sandford, a building supply manager from Philadelphia, as he and his wife Julie each clutched a gaggle of bags as they walked through the full parking lot.

The deals were so good, he said, that they just decided to keep buying "stuff we thought we could use." They went for housewares and clothing.

Sandford, 47, said the couple spent about the same as last year, but were surprised to see they could get more merchandise.

Julie, a medical assistant, said they went out at 4 a.m. and picked up a 10-piece set of Farberware cookware at Kohl's for $40 for their daughter. They also purchased flatware and china.

John Purves, an attorney from Haddonfield, also said he planned to pay the same for gifts as last year.

Purves, 60, who has a wife and 3 adult children, said he usually pays $1,000-$1,500, and was planning to purchase some laptops and GPS systems.

Three years ago, he said he spent about $1,200 because he was "concerned about the future" and the economy. Now, he is less worried because "we're all hanging in there." Still, Purves said he would hunt for the deals and not buy until he found them.

Stephanie Fisher, 23 of Camden, was determined to spend less this year by taking advantage of Black Friday sales. She hit Wal-Mart and Target before making her way to the mall.

"Last year I did my Christmas shopping last minute and I had to work on Black Friday," the bank employee said. Among the deals she found were a coffeemaker and crockpot.

Samantha Johnson, who also lives in Camden and works in a bank, said she also is determined to save more of her money this holiday season. "I got bills and kids and bills and kids," said the mother of two toddlers and an infant.

"I brought $200 with me and I don't want to have to bust out my credit card," Johnson said. Their ages make that possible, she said, because "they're so little they are excited with whatever you give them."

Still, Johnson said she was thrilled to find towels for $2 and special deals on sneakers to help her stick to her budget. She said coupons also were a big help.

Mary Cattell, an elementary schoolteacher from Audubon, said her bill would likely be the same this year as in the past. "I know what I can spend and I stay within that amount. I'm lucky to have a good job and also I'm a good shopper and look for the best buy," she said.

Cattell, 58, who has two grown children, said she was hunting for Phillies stuff and a laptop.

"My biggest problem is knowing what to get for people," she said, noting she has about 10 people on her list. She loaded bags into her trunk and said she planned to go back inside for more items. She waved off three cars that wanted her spot.

"Right now I think the prices are good," Cattell said. "But grocery prices are much higher. . . If you're careful, you can spend well."