Move over, Black Friday. This year, it was Black Thursday. As in Thanksgiving Day.

In a ka-ching start to the holiday shopping season, stores like Toys R Us opened their doors at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, giving shoppers barely enough time to wrap up the leftovers and shoo out the relatives.

At Arden Fair, Toys R Us let shoppers enter in groups of 50 starting with Carrie Gordon, a North Highlands resident, who arrived 11 hours earlier - at 10 a.m. - to ensure her place in line. More than around 400 people were in line when the doors opened.

"We save up the whole year for this day," said Gordon, who said her family takes Black Friday shopping very seriously, celebrating their Thanksgiving a day early in order to be first in line at the malls.

Other stores here and nationwide ramped up for Black Friday sales, from WalMart's 10 p.m. Thanksgiving start to more traditional "Midnight Madness" openings at Kohl's, Macy's and Target stores. Other retailers, like Sports Authority and JC Penney, elected to open at 4 or 5 a.m.

They're cautiously optimistic that they can entice recession-weary shoppers to spend. Wells Fargo economists predict a 5.2 percent increase in 2011 holiday sales over last year.

Retailers lured shoppers with traditional "door-buster" deals, like free Disney snow globes at JC Penney (which quickly ran out, much to some Arden Fair shoppers' disappointment) or Best Buy's $150 for a Gateway laptop or $45 off an iPad 2. Others offered free food, like at Sam's Club, which provided complimentary hot egg sandwiches, fresh fruit and coffee to its store members, from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m.

At Roseville Galleria, a mall spokeswoman said crowds were lined up before midnight at each of the mall's six entrances.

Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year in sales volume and foot traffic, is also a consumer sport. For thrill-of-the-hunt bargain shoppers, it's a chance to snag deals - and bragging rights.

Bryan Stephan of Rocklin and shopping buddy Eric Freeman of Citrus Heights were on the hunt.

They took turns camping out in front of the Roseville Best Buy, starting at 4 pm on Tuesday. Their best deal: a 42" HDTV for $199.

"It was definitely (worth the wait)," said Stephan. "I got a new TV that would've cost $700-$800...for $200."

He and Freeman then moved over to the Sears store at Arden Fair at 4 am and bought dress shirts. At Toys R Us, Stephan bought an indoor basketball hoop for his almost-2-yr-old.

At Roseville Galleria, Jan Diaz and her daughter Angela Dempsey of Livermore were surprised the Roseville Galleria wasn't mobbed at 4 a.m.

"I think a lot of people started earlier...or last night. The hardcore shoppers who would've shopped with us are now going earlier," said Diaz.

The mother-daughter pair had already made several trips to the car to stash their prize purchases. "We just killed at Disney," said Diaz, mainly buying toys for kids. Store merchandise was discounted at 20 percent off sale prices until 10 a.m.

One of their favorite door-buster deals: a Lionel train set for 50 percent off at JCPenney.

More than just malls, local stores also jumped into the Black Friday spirit. This weekend, independent record stores, like Dimple Records and The Beat, announced a repeat of their "Record Store Day" with special, limited-edition sets of vinyl albums from Pink Floyd, Nirvana, the Byrds, etc.

And for many Black Friday shoppers, there are plenty of chances to snag deals right at home. Major retailers loaded up their websites with many of the same deep discounts they offered in their brick-and-mortar stores.

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Bee reporters Ed Fletcher, Rick Daysog and Darrell Smith contributed to this report. Call the Bee's Claudia Buck at (916) 321-1968.

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