LOS ANGELES, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Southern California's shop owners will be feeling more confident about the economy after shoppers crowded into malls from early morning for this year's "Black Friday," the traditional start to Christmas shopping. Analysts, however, are not so sure.
"Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, has been used by merchants and the public in recent years to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from posting a loss to turning a profit.
At the Westfield shopping mall in West Covina in Southern California, most shops opened at 5 a.m.. "I saw some early birds waiting outside the store as early as on Wednesday," a woman attendant at Best Buy, an electronics chain store in the U.S., told Xinhua.
She said the store had been crowded with shoppers since 5 a.m.." Obviously, there have been more shoppers than what we had last year after Thanksgiving," said the attendant.
To attract customers, most stores have advertised big discounts for their products. But those discounted products have limited quantities, prompting some to arrive up to 40 hours early to ensure they don't miss out.
Most of the shoppers at Best Buy were chasing discounted computers at around 200 U.S. dollars. LCD computer monitors at 79.99 dollars were also popular.
At Macy's, most products had 40 to 50 percent discounts. One lady spent more than 100 dollars buying three sets of cups, forks and other kitchen flatware.
"It is really cheap since they are brand name products," said the lady.
At 8:30 a.m., shoppers at Best Buy were waiting in long lines at the checkouts. "It is something unexpected. We are happy to see more shoppers," said another store attendant.
In most shopping malls, shoppers even found it hard to park but, spurred on by a desire to save money in tough economic times, the yare willing to face the extra effort and long wait.
At around 6 p.m. Thursday, several dozen people with foldable chairs and sleeping bags were queued outside Wal-Mart Superstore in Rosemead. They preferred to spend the night on Thanksgiving holiday to get what they wanted, mostly computers and LCD televisions.
At a Wal-Mart store in Upland, California, customers started grabbing and even fighting over the goods on sale. Store managers had to call the police and shut down the business for about three hours from 2: 45 a.m. Friday.
However, Esmael Adibi, chief economist at Chapman University, warned the attraction of discounts did not guarantee full cash registers. He predicted sales would be up two to three percentage points over last year, which was down 3.5 percent from 2007 in Southern California.
Some economists are skeptical that shoppers will spend heavily in the current circumstances of recession and high unemployment. Many Americans have changed their discretionary spending habits in a bid to save money and prepare for the worst.
Jackie Fernandez from Deloitte said Southern Californians had been hit hard by the economic downturn and were still struggling.
With a state unemployment level above 12 percent and depressed real estate market, local consumers were taking a very conservative approach to their holiday spending, he added.
According to a survey by Deloitte & Touche LLP on retail spending and trends, people in Southern California plan to buy an average of 15 gifts this year, compared to 23 last year and in 2007, and expect to spend 391 dollars on gifts, less than either 469 dollars in 2008 or 515 dollars in 2007.
Economists also worry there is another bleak Christmas season in store in Southern California.
"You are starting to see some signs of life in Orange County," said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp, "but it will still be a touch-and-go Christmas for a lot of retailers."
