Friday, 12 p.m.: Shopping amid protests in Chicago

A protest got underway in Chicago’s shopping district, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the middle of a crowd shouting: “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now!”

The march comes after the release of a video earlier in the week showing the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by police officer Jason Van Dyke. The video set off days of largely peaceful protests.

On Black Friday, demonstrators took to the city’s main shopping area to keep the issue front and center. Several hundred gathered in the drizzling rain, many with plastic-wrapped signs.

One demonstrator, Frank Chapman, 73, said the video confirms what activists have said for years about Chicago police brutality.

—AP Staff

Friday, 11:30 a.m.: Bad timing

Neiman Marcus’ website was down as of Friday afternoon. Visitors to the page got a message saying “We’ll be back soon. We’re currently making improvements to your shopping experience.”

A representative for Neiman Marcus, Ginger Reeder, said the company is “working fervently to determine the problem and get the site back up.”

—Candice Choi, Associated Press, New York

Friday, 11 a.m.: Gone fishing

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife has stocked 16 lakes with trout to give people something else to do on Black Friday.

Fishing licenses are required to take advantage of this holiday activity.

In previous years, six southwest Washington lakes were stocked for fishing the day after Thanksgiving. This year, the program has been expanded to include lakes in the Puget Sound region and eastern Washington.

—AP Staff

Friday, 10:30 a.m.: Teens feast on badly needed deals

Teenagers dominated the Black Friday crowd at the mall in Pleasanton, California.

Sarah Fehrnstrom, 13, said she spent $130 on sweat shirts, pants, makeup and perfume in a couple hours. And she wasn’t done. Her budget was $300 for the day of marathon shopping.

“It’s hard to get money as a teenager,” Fehrnstrom said. “When there’s sales, we come out.”

Fehrnstrom and three of her best friends arrived at 5 a.m., wearing sweats and flip-flops for comfort and speed.

— Scott Smith, Associated Press, Pleasanton, California.

Friday, 10 a.m.: Taking the cardio outside

Colorado is trying to encourage a new tradition by offering free admission to state parks on Black Friday.

The offer is good at all 42 state parks on what backers are calling Fresh Air Friday.

The director of the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office says people have the choice between running around indoors or enjoying the great outdoors for free, and burning off calories from their turkey dinners.

Other states are also offering free or reduced fees to encourage people to get outside.

Friday, 10:30 a.m.: Teens feast on badly needed deals

Teenagers dominated the Black Friday crowd at the mall in Pleasanton, California.

Sarah Fehrnstrom, 13, said she spent $130 on sweat shirts, pants, makeup and perfume in a couple hours. And she wasn’t done. Her budget was $300 for the day of marathon shopping.

“It’s hard to get money as a teenager,” Fehrnstrom said. “When there’s sales, we come out.”

Fehrnstrom and three of her best friends arrived at 5 a.m., wearing sweats and flip-flops for comfort and speed.

— Scott Smith, Associated Press, Pleasanton, California.

Friday, 9 a.m.: Too late already?

Ashley Walton says her $200 budget on Black Friday was the same as last year, but it didn’t buy as much this year because the best sales were the night before.

“It’s Black Thursday now,” Walton said, leaving the Capitol City Mall in suburban Harrisburg with her hands full of shopping bags.

The 27-year-old didn’t go shopping on Thanksgiving because she was in a “turkey coma,” and is a devoted Black Friday shopper.

But she was disappointed this year. She said Wal-Mart didn’t have all the items she wanted, such as a tablet for her 4-year-old son.

So she went on Amazon and ordered it on her smartphone.

—Marc Levy, Camp Hill, Associated Press, Pennsylvania

Friday, 9 a.m.: Casual Friday at the mall

In Kennesaw, Georgia, one of metro Atlanta’s largest malls took on the feel of a slumber party early Friday morning. Many shoppers at Town Center at Cobb wore sweat pants and sweat shirts. A few even wore their pajamas.

Scott and Meredith Oakley brought their teenage girls, partly for the experience of getting up early and joining the crowds.

“It’s just fun — something different,” said Scott Oakley, as he and his wife took a break from shopping by relaxing in some lounge chairs.

Nearby, Robert Renshaw of Rockmart, Georgia, had just picked up some items from the Disney Store at Town Center, which were marked 20 percent off. He’d also used some Bed Bath and Beyond coupons. Renshaw was out at the mall early Friday morning after shopping at a Target in Hiram, Georgia, on Thanksgiving night.

“We try to keep it to Friday but it’s been pushed back to Thursday,” he said of the Black Friday shopping trend in recent years.

—Jeff Martin, Associated Press, Kennesaw, Georgia

Friday, 8 a.m.: Black Friday just not what it used to be

Seasoned shopper Lynette Norcup is nostalgic for Black Fridays of the past.

Sitting in the warmth of her daughter’s SUV waiting for Walmart to open, the 58-year-old resident of Pleasanton, California said she thinks the excitement has fizzled now that stores started opening on Thanksgiving.

Norcup misses the challenge of strategizing to score the best 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,” said Norcup.

This year, the pre-dawn rush on Black Friday was made up of about two dozen shoppers. They calmly lined up a couple minutes early and walked in as the doors opened.

— Scott Smith, Associated Press, Pleasanton, California

Online sales surge on Thanksgiving day

By 5 p.m. in New York on Thursday, $1.1 billion was spent online, according to Adobe Systems Inc. The full day was expected to total $1.7 billion, a 22 percent jump from the same period a year ago, the company said. 

— Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Shannon Pettypiece, Bloomberg View

How shopping is going around the country

Shoppers had a bit of a buying appetizer on Thanksgiving, but the question remains how much they’ll feast on deals on the day after the holiday.

Big chains that include Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and Target opened their doors on the holiday for those who wanted to get their post-turkey shop on.

But the day after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday, is typically the biggest shopping day of the year. And for a decade, it had been considered the official start of the holiday buying season.

Still, as retailers increasingly have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving night, and the discounting that used to be reserved for Black Friday into early November, analysts have questioned whether Black Friday is losing its cachet.

Overall, the National Retail Federation estimates that about 135.8 million consumers will be shopping during the four-day weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. The group also expects sales in November and December of this year to be $630.5 billion, up 3.7 percent from the last two months of the year in 2014.

Here’s how the start of the holiday shopping season is playing out. All times are EST, unless otherwise specified. Check back often.

Friday, 8 a.m.: May the force be with you

Toys R Us CEO Dave Brandon said among the hot sellers so far since stores opened on Thanksgiving night: “Star Wars” merchandise and Hasbro’s Pie Face game as well as toys related to the animated TV series “Paw Patrol.”

— Anne D’Innocenzio, New York

Friday, 6 a.m.: Bad weather? Let’s shop.

Sisters Eileen Kroll and Maureen Ackles sat bleary-eyed on a bench outside a Bath & Body Works shop in the South County Center mall near St. Louis. Both women, having been up for the past 24 hours, are self-proclaimed Black Friday regulars and showed no signs of fatigue, having already between to three Walmarts, two Targets and a Kohl’s department store since midnight.

“It’s rainy and yucky. What are we going to do? Sleep? What the heck,” said Kroll, a 52-year-old tax accountant with four children.

— Jim Suhr, St. Louis

Friday, 5 a.m.: Pulling an all-nighter

Crystal Gomez from Queens, N.Y., started shopping at 11 p.m. Thursday and was loaded with bags from Toys R Us where she picked up Barbies and other gifts by 5 a.m. She also had shopped at Macy’s, Gap, Old Navy and Victoria’s Secret. She shops Black Friday every year and started so early to avoid the crowds.

“It’s not really crowded now but it will be later,” she said.

— Mae Anderson, New York

Friday, 5 a.m.:

Gloria Romero, 23, from the Bronx and her friend, Ashley Quesoo, 19, woke up at 2 a.m. to go to Sephora. They picked up one item, a Dita Von Teese contour palette makeup set.

“It was sold out online,” Romero said.

They said waking up that early was worth it. “We had quite a bit of fun, we got to experiment with makeup and it wasn’t crowded,” Romero said.

— Mae Anderson, New York

Thursday, 9 p.m.: Sneaky shopper

Julie Desireau snagged a $10 crock pot and the last $10 deep fryer at the Naperville, Illinois Wal-Mart and promptly hid them under a rack of women’s flannel pajamas. Then the 29-year-old from Chicago called her husband, who was in the toy department with their cart, and told him to come pick her up.

“There’s no way I’m going back there,” she said.

— Sara Burnett, Naperville, Illinois

Thursday, 9 p.m.: Deals in the city that never sleeps

Bintou Cham, a 31-year-old New York City home health aid worker, was holding her four-month baby girl, while pushing a cart of baby clothes from J.C. Penney, perfume from Macy’s and underwear from Victoria’s Secret. She started shopping at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and spent about $200. She said on average she got about 40 percent to 50 percent off but she was looking for more.

“I was looking for 70 percent off,” she said. “I have a baby and it is expensive.”

— Anne D’Innocenzio, New York

Thursday, 8 p.m.: Things are looking up for Target

Target CEO Brian Cornell told reporters on a conference call that early results show the discount chain is seeing higher traffic at its stores than last year and shoppers are buying items across the store, from clothing to electronics to toys. He also said that he has been pleased with strong results in online sales. Among some of the most popular door buster deals is a Westinghouse TV, marked down to $249.99, a savings of $350, he said. Target also offered 40 percent off of all fashion and accessories.

— Anne D’Innocenzio, New York

Thursday, 8 p.m.: He’s a planner

With one of his sons in tow and two more waiting expectantly at home, Jeff McGehee’s Thanksgiving night shopping strategy was downright militaristic: divide and conquer.

The physical education teacher from suburban St. Louis and his wife mapped out their route in advance: she would brave the crowds at Target for a $299 Xbox One coveted by their 19-year-old, while he, his 20-year-old son Josh and McGehee’s older brother took a more leisurely stroll through a less crowded Sports Authority in Brentwood, Mo., eyeing deals with the $15 gift cards they earned by being among the first 80 customers in line.

The routine was due to continue before dawn Friday, he said, with a planned 6 a.m. visit to Home Depot for a Christmas tree followed by an Office Depot stop to buy a Google Chrome notebook computer for their youngest son, 17.

— Alan Zagier, Brentwood, Missouri

Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: I don’t always shop, but when I do, I might not buy anything

At the crowded Macy’s shoe department at Herald Square, Karina Maxim, an artist and tarot card reader , was taking a break in shopping. She had just come from Aeropostale where she spent $60 on T-shirts for her two children.

This was her first time shopping on Thanksgiving.

She plans to go to Best Buy Friday. But she said she doesn’t have a plan. “I’m not going to promise I will buy anything,” she said.

— Anne D’Innocenzio, New York

Thursday, 5:55 p.m.: Lamenting the good ole days

An hour and a half before the Toys R Us in Times Square opened at 5 p.m. On Thanksgiving Day, about 40 people stood in line, although that swelled to 100-plus a little after 4 p.m.

“Black Friday isn’t what it used to be,” said Keith Nelson, 54, who works in security in the Brooklyn and was third in line after arriving about 2:15. “Lines used to be longer, people would be sleeping and bringing lounge chairs out here.”

— Mae Anderson, New York

Thursday, 6:45 p.m.: Me time in the mall

Rosy Urrutia, 25, was shopping on Thanksgiving night as an appetizer before her meal. The Commerce City, Colorado stay-at-home mom had an armful of shoe boxes — two for herself and three for her children — and an electric griddle.

“I have one hour to shop and then I have to get home and cook Thanksgiving dinner,” she said. “I just wanted to come shop for some me time, I guess. I love it. But I like cooking for everyone, too.”

— Kristen Wyatt, Denver, Colorado

Are you shopping today? Did hit any stores at 12:01 a.m.?

Let us know if you’re getting any deals. You can contact us by:

• Email: blackfriday@sunjournal.com
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What we have so far:

• Black Friday shoppers in good moods scoring deals
• Online sales surge on Thanksgiving day
• Video: Shoppers hunt for Black Friday Bargains