Retailers Ramp Up Black Friday Bargains

Many retailers are already anticipating a heavily promotional environment, factoring it into their fourth-quarter earnings. On Friday, the sales looked to be typical of years past.

Discount giant Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) opened at 5 a.m., offering deals that lasted until 11 a.m., including $448 for a 32-inch Polaroid LCD HDTV, $79.87 for a Sony(SNE Quote) Cybershot camera and $49.84 for an 8-inch digital picture frame.

Best Buy (BBY Quote) began handing out tickets to eager customers lined up in front of its stores at 3 a.m., giving them first dibs on sale items such as a 42-inch Panasonic flat panel plasma HDTV for $899.99, a Kodak digital camera for $99.99 and a VAIO laptop for $399.99.

Christine Chen, an analyst for Needham, says that for some retailers, it may not make sense to pay the additional labor costs to open stores early, but at the same time, they can't afford to be dark when everyone around them is doing the opposite.

"I think it's really competitive and retailers will do anything to get people into the stores," Chen says.

Still, there are a few exceptions. Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch(ANF Quote), for instance, didn't offer any special promotions on Black Friday -- in typical fashion. But Chen observed during her visit to the malls this morning that customers were shopping there nonetheless.