Stores Usher in Holiday Shopping Season

The nation's stores ushered in the official start of the holiday shopping season on Friday with midnight openings, a blitz of door busters and other come-ons.

Stores are counting on hordes of shoppers who have been pulling back in recent months amid a challenging economy to snap up bargains. Merchants need them to keep coming back throughout the holiday season to make their sales goals.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, threw open its doors at 5 a.m., offering such specials as a Polaroid 42-inch LCD HDTV for $798 and a $79.87 Sony digital camera. From 5 a.m. to noon, Toys "R" Us Inc. offered 101 door busters on such toys as Mattel Inc.'s Barbie styling set and Hasbro Inc.'s FurReal interactive jungle cat toy. That's four times the number it offered last year.

Via the Assoc. Press