Across the United States, millions of Americans spent Black Friday racing through stores in the traditional Christmas-shopping sales frenzy, while others lamented that the thrill is gone, and still others took laid-back approaches to the whole affair.
About 135.8 million Americans are expected to shop in stores or online over what for many is a four-day weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, the largest U.S. retail trade organization.
Online and Thanksgiving Day sales have put a decided dent in Black Friday, but there were still deals to be had.
In Colorado, marijuana shops drew consumers looking for discounts and holiday gift sets. At Denver Kush Club, the first few customers got free joints, rolling papers and a T-shirt with purchase. All medical customers were offered 50 percent savings on marijuana purchases of $99.
Colorado officials offered free admission to state parks, hoping to turn park-going into a new day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. The offer was good at all 42 state parks, and supporters dubbed it Fresh Air Friday.
The director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry office said people can run around indoors or enjoy the great outdoors to burn off calories from their turkey dinners.
In Washington state, the Department of Fish and Wildlife expanded its Black Friday program, allowing people to fish on 16 lakes, instead of the previous years' six, that had been freshly stocked with trout.
In Pleasanton, Calif., teenagers dominated the Black Friday mall crowd. Sarah Fehrnstrom, 13, spent $130 on sweatshirts, makeup and perfume. Her budget was $300 for the day of marathon shopping.
Seasoned shopper Lynette Norcup was nostalgic for Black Fridays of the past. She said the excitement has fizzled because of stores opening on Thanksgiving. She misses the challenge of strategizing to score deals. Her daughters used to hold a place at the checkout line with an empty shopping cart as she hand-delivered her finds. "That was the good old days," she said.
In Kennesaw, Ga., one of metro Atlanta's largest malls took on the feel of a slumber party early Friday. Many shoppers at Town Center at Cobb wore sweatpants and sweatshirts. Some were in their pajamas.
In a Kmart store in Denver, Susan Montoya had nearly the entire store to herself. She half-heartedly flipped through a rack of girls' holiday party dresses.
"There's no one out here! No challenge!" she said. "I'm not even looking for anything. I just come out to see what the deals are and to see everybody getting ready for Christmas. But this is sad. Everyone's online or went shopping yesterday."
In suburban Harrisburg, Pa., Ashley Walton, who was leaving the Capitol City Mall, said her $200 budget on Black Friday was the same as last year, but it didn't buy as much because the best sales were the night before.
"It's Black Thursday now," Walton said.
E-commerce sales surged Thanksgiving Day, raising questions about how many shoppers would show up for retailers' in-store promotions Friday. Thursday buying was expected to total $1.7 billion, a 22 percent jump from the same period a year ago, according to Adobe Systems Inc. Toy demand, especially for Star Wars products, helped drive the increase.
Jeff Simpson, a director at Deloitte Consulting LLP's retail practice, said online shopping's effect on physical stores is evident. He surveyed shopping centers in North Carolina and saw smaller crowds than expected Friday.
"Across the board, much less traffic was anticipated," he said. "Much, much slower."
This year, some stores pulled back on their Thanksgiving weekend hours and elected to spread more of their specials throughout the month. Still, the weekend after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest for U.S. retailers, and mass retailers like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart expected record turnouts.
"We have a large team dedicated all year to helping pull off Black Friday," said Cindy Hudson, Target's senior vice president of store operations.
As stores opened across the country starting Thanksgiving evening, a Target command center at its Minneapolis headquarters was getting live video feeds from all of its 1,800 locations. There were also four regional command centers monitoring specific activity in their markets.
Workers were glued to computer monitors and screens monitoring the lines outside stores to make sure they were orderly, that shoppers were happy and that customers were getting into the store at the right pace.
In a statement Friday, Target said it had a "strong turnout" in stores on Thanksgiving Day. It didn't provide specific numbers. Gaming consoles, televisions and movies were among the top-selling items. The company also said it averaged selling an iPad every second throughout the day.
In recent years, e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com Inc. has siphoned off many stores' shoppers, offering free, two-day shipping and an increased focus on fashion.
Once considered the official start to the Christmas shopping season, Black Friday has lost some of its impact. Still, the National Retail Federation estimates that the weekend accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of total holiday sales.
"We expect a robust four days," said Sarah Quinlan, head of market insights at MasterCard Advisors. "It still is a major kickoff period."
Information for this article was contributed by Lindsey Rupp of Bloomberg News and by staff writers of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/28/2015