Tidings of Comfort and Joy for Retailers

More bargain hunters, shopaholics and insomniacs indulged in the post-Thanksgiving consumption ritual known as Black Friday this year than in 2003.

That, at least, was according to the snow globe indicator at Glendale Galleria. In little more than an hour, the 3,800 globes the JCPenney store had stocked as freebies for early risers were gone. “Last year, it took three hours to give them away,” store manager David Small said.

Hundreds of people were queued up when the main doors rolled open at 5:30 a.m. and clerk Marlene Mena handed over the first Mickey Mouse globe.

“It’s insane,” she said. “I can’t believe people get up so early.”

Some people never went to bed; Wendy Tan was sitting outside Best Buy in West Hollywood at midnight. The 19-year-old UCLA freshman stayed there for six hours to snag a Toshiba laptop computer for $499.99 -- reduced from $899.99 -- passing the time with the help of her English textbook.

Tan lost sleep and faced the multitudes to save money. Lisa Soria did it because it was fun.

“I like to see people fighting for a parking space or that last shirt,” the 26-year-old said, referring to a tussle at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa that she witnessed. “It just gets you in that Christmas mood.”

The day after Thanksgiving marks the traditional commencement of a shopping season that actually starts before Halloween. It’s referred to as Black Friday because it used to be the day of the year that merchants began shifting from being in the red to being in the black.

They act as though it’s as crucial a day as ever, opening hours earlier than usual, throwing sales and handing out gifts.

“Retailers want to get a lot of buzz out there about themselves on Black Friday,” said Ellen Tolley, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation.

At South Coast Plaza, the David Yurman jewelry store uncorked champagne for patrons. At Beverly Center in Los Angeles, a lounge area was equipped with free coffee, pastries, fruit and Hunky Santa, a young man in a red tank top. “I’ve never seen a Santa Claus with muscles,” said 18-year-old Kelly Burgos, a psychology major at Los Angeles Community College. “That’s different.”

Sales figures weren’t released Friday, so there was only anecdotal evidence to indicate whether shoppers outdid themselves. The retail federation predicted that as many as 130 million people would be in stores Friday through Sunday, spending some of the $219.9 billion the federation has estimated would be forked over this holiday season. That would be up 4.5% from 2003.

Experts who roamed Southern California shopping malls to take consumers’ temperatures reported that it looked as though the federation’s prediction might be conservative. Jackie Fernandez, a partner at Deloitte & Touche who has been taking unscientific Black Friday surveys for nearly a decade, called Glendale Galleria “the busiest I’ve seen it since the late 1990s.”

Ditto for Lakewood Center, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “They had lines outside some of the stores at midnight,” he said.

The droves of people that were good news for merchants weren’t for some shoppers. Shannon Christian, who rose at 4:45 a.m. and traveled from San Juan Capistrano to Fountain Valley hoping to snap up a DVD player for $15, was foiled by traffic as she neared Fry’s Electronics. Unwilling to waste precious time, Christian zipped over to the Target Greatland in Costa Mesa, which was selling a similar product, although for more. There she found the store was opening an hour later than advertised to appease neighbors.

“I’d pay twice as much for less hassle,” the 36-year-old account executive said after opting to wait in line with some 250 other shoppers who were set to pounce when the doors finally opened at 7 a.m. Still, she said she was “going to be stoked to buy a DVD player for 28 bucks.”

At Glendale Galleria, where the traffic jam in the parking lot started before the sun rose, shopping buddies Angie Cimpos and Mary Olvera weren’t at all grinchy. They were standing outside KB Toys at 1:30 a.m. because there were Nintendo gaming systems inside that would go for $49.99 -- not the usual $79 -- on a first-come, first-served basis.

“It’s become a tradition now,” said Olvera, 22, of Montebello. She and Cimpos, a 30-year-old from Burbank, have been getting ready to shop in the wee hours of Black Friday for years. “We strategize the night before.”

By 4:20 a.m., the KB Toys line snaked around an escalator and past Champs Sports. Store manager Christina Lopez, in a green elf hat, directed hundreds of customers during the first hours. The Pac-Man 5-in-1 Plug ‘N Play Pocket Edition was an early favorite, selling out before 9 a.m.

Retail analysts have predicted that high-end stores -- such as Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus -- will be among the revenue winners this year.

“The lower end isn’t doing badly, but they’re not going to have a knockout season by any means,” said Steve Cochrane, senior economist for Economy.com. “The higher end is doing very well.”

That appeared to be the case at the St. John boutique at South Coast Plaza, where John Song, 52, relaxed on a black leather chair as his wife picked out $3,000 in clothing.

“I’m just here as the bag carrier, security and to pay the money,” the Los Angeles mortgage broker said, although Song admitted he had bought himself a $2,000 Giorgio Armani suit.

Once he and his wife started holiday shopping, they would probably spend more money this year than last, Song said. “In 2004, the mortgage market and rental unit market were tremendous, so the spending power is great.”

Trabuco Canyon resident Richard Moy was just as cheerful about disposable income. A podiatrist, Moy spent $3,500 at David Yurman on a diamond necklace and a mother-of-pearl pendant for a friend. He said economic times were so good that he had ordered something special for himself: a Rolex watch that cost more than $50,000.

Several factors have boosted consumer morale, economists said: The nation is glad to have the presidential election behind it, cheered by signs of improvement in the job market and relieved that gasoline prices have moderated some.

Still, it costs Julio Portillo so much more than usual to fill up his tank that he will be cutting back on Christmas gifts. Portillo, a 40-year-old who holds two jobs, one as a security guard and another as a food buyer, said his wife hadn’t been able to find work. “Jobs are not great like they used to be,” he said as he browsed at JCPenney in Glendale.

Last year, Portillo said, he spent $300 on gifts; this year he figures it will be about $175. “If gas prices were down I believe people would spend more money,” he said.

Over in West Hollywood, John Cruz, who owns a house-cleaning business, said he didn’t know what his holiday gift budget would be; he hadn’t even started to think about shopping for others yet. The 40-year-old Hollywood resident showed up at the Best Buy at 5 a.m. and filled his cart with DVDs, a DVD player, a CD player and a printer -- all for himself.

“When I need stuff, I wait until the day after Thanksgiving,” Cruz said.

Burgos was of the same mind. “So far I haven’t seen anything that I want to get for anyone, but I found some stuff for me at great prices,” said the L.A. Community College student, who spent Friday, and more than $200, at Beverly Center, buying jeans, a jacket and shoes. “It’s still early to start shopping for Christmas.”

Times staff writers Susana Enriquez, Rachana Rathi and Nicholas Shields contributed to this report.