Black Friday a bit of a bust?
Retailers may still need a Christmas miracle to balance the books this year. Growing fears of reduced spending this holiday season led the retail giants to pull out all the stops on Black Friday.
Black Friday begins Thursday night
Celebrating the Holidays 2011
Pictures: Holiday Gift Guide 2011
CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reported Black Friday has always been a big day for retailers, but despite the 152 million consumers expected to shop this holiday weekend, it could be a bit of a bust for the economy.
Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst of NPD group, a marketing research services firm, told "The Early Show," "There is no stimulus package, there is no jobs program, there is no tax rebate that the president's put on the table, so it's really up to the consumer to go toe the line themselves."
Quijano said it may be blamed on high unemployment and low consumer confidence. In a national survey by the National Retail Federation, more than 50 percent of those who plan on shopping said they will wait to see if this weekend's bargains are worth getting out and fighting for.
Cohen told CBS News, "They finally recognize that they have to get in competition with the online retailers, so look for retailers to get very aggressive when it comes to offering deals all different hours of the day."
Some stores opened earlier than ever before, including Macy's, Target and Kohl's - all open for business at midnight.
Many Americans still embrace Black Friday enthusiasm, such as Tito Hernandez, who camped out since Monday at a Best Buy store in St. Petersburg, Fla., to score a new big screen TV.
He told CBS News, "The 44-inch (TV) is $199 and the 55-inch is $599. Super Bowl Sunday's gonna be pretty good at my house."
But this year, it might take more than one Black Friday to get retailers - and the U.S. economy - out of the red.
Quijano added on "The Early Show," that while analysts project a 2.8 percent increase in Black Friday sales this year, that's actually smaller than 2010, which saw a 5.2 percent boost.
But Terry Lundgren, chief executive officer and president of Macy's Inc., said on "The Early Show," he is optimistic about this holiday's retail season - at least for Macy's.
He said he saw the store completely encircled with about 10,000 customers at 11:30 p.m. Thursday night.
But as for the overall economy, Lundgren said there are winners and losers among retailers.
"We are a rather large retailer," Lundgren said. "Last year, $25 billion in sales, and over 800 department stores with the Macy's brand. We are having the best year in a decade, so our sales are up 5.3 percent on same-store sales and we're very, very pleased with our performance. So in our case, we feel great about the momentum we are coming into this fourth quarter with and feel very confident about our potential for continued great sales throughout the holiday season.
"Overall, as far as the economy is concerned, you know, you're seeing lots of signs of weakness out there, and what we are all hoping for is that the overall economy improves and so all boats rise. At the moment, you're seeing some winners and losers in the retail field - fortunately, we're on the winning side."