Black Friday Shopping

The nation's retailers ushered in the start of the holiday season Friday with expanded hours, generous discounts and free money in the form of gift cards.

In a slowing but still steady economy, retailers like Wal-Mart, CompUSA, BJ's Wholesale Club, Sears, and Best Buy were increasing the sales pitch to shoppers, hoping to grab customer dollars. A growing number of stores and malls threw open their doors at midnight to jump-start the season.

When we drove by the Best Buy Store near Santana Row, Santa Clara, we actually saw people building camps, bringing their chairs, blankets and start lining up since 8pm on Thursday night.

A friend of mine actually told me that it is worth to queue up for 10-12 hours, as the merchandises she is going to get could save her over thousands dollars. She said dividing by the money saved with the waiting hours. She actually made about two – three hundreds an hour. I started to understand why people would want to queue up in the cold winter for hours just to get into the BIG SHOPPING on Black Friday.