Retailers are hoping to capitalize on the Black Friday frenzy and defy analysts' predictions of a lackluster holiday shopping season, despite fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Stores were buzzing yesterday as shoppers hunted for deals, and some retailers were offering aggressive discounts.
"It looked like a very promising Black Friday," said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. "I think the season's off to a good start."
Retailers will release official numbers beginning today, but analysts were forecasting only modest gains over last year's Black Friday sales.
"For some chain stores, this is make or break," said Chris Christopher, a retail analyst with Lexington-based IHS Global Insight.
IHS is expecting the weakest holiday season growth — 3.2 percent — since 2009. The National Retail Federation has pegged growth at 3.9 percent, while the Bay State retailers' group is predicting 3.5 percent.
And a calendar quirk also could hurt retailers — a late Thanksgiving means six fewer shopping days before Christmas.
"We're expecting store business to be down 10 percent, but we're expecting sales to be up 2.4 percent," said Bill Martin, founder of shoppertrak, thanks to online sales.
He said Black Friday and the remainder of this weekend will likely be a larger portion of the total holiday sales than usual because of the shorter time frame.
"The calendar's challenging," said Hurst.
Those timing difficulties are on top of shaky consumer confidence, largely due to the government shutdown in October.
Fourth-quarter same-store sales — a key benchmark because they measure sales at stores open at least a year — are forecast to climb a "lackluster" 1.1 percent, according to Swampscott-based Retail Metrics' SSS Index, and 1.5 percent when Walmart is factored in.
Still, Martin said yesterday was expected to be the largest shopping day for the 10th straight year, with a cool $10 billion in sales.
Many shoppers had no trouble finding what they were looking for.
Somerville resident Margot Hanson came to Legacy Place specifically to take advantage of the 50 percent off sale at the Loft.
"Then we impulse-bought at three other stores," she said.
Alex and Gabrielle Jean-Jacques of Hyde Park visited the Walpole Walmart twice yesterday — once early in the morning to watch the Black Friday crowds and again in the afternoon for shopping. "We figured there might have been deals left over," Gabrielle said. "Surprisingly, there was a lot on the shelves. I thought it would be wiped out."
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