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The Bay Area holiday shopping season began earlier than usual on Black Friday, as many retailers opened their doors soon after midnight — brightening sales activity for a number of merchants.

Employees at Toys R Us, in Newark, encountered a line of hundreds of customers who hungered for bargains the retailer dangled before them when the doors opened at midnight.

“I can’t believe how far back the line goes,” said Jennifer Byers, a Newark resident looking for discounts on toys. “It looks crazy.”

More retailers opened earlier than usual — partly to whip up excitement among shoppers, and partly to avoid the kind of stampedes that last year caused a Walmart security guard in Valley Stream, N.Y., to be trampled to death.

“We don’t want any pushing or shoving,” one Toys R Us employee told people waiting in line.

The throng entered the store at an orderly pace. It took most an hour or more to conclude their purchases.

“Yes, it was worth it,” said Geverne Shirley, a Hayward resident. “Getting up early on Black Friday is an annual thing for me. I found some good bargains.”

The label “Black Friday” comes from the hope that the sales rush will help push store ledgers into the black ink of profitability for the year. Still, sales volume may ultimately disappoint many retailers.

Shoppers plan to spend an average of $628 each this year on holiday shopping, down 20 percent, or $161, from the 2008 average of $789,

a Visa Inc. survey shows.

An estimated 10.3 percent of shoppers surveyed by the National Retail Federation said they had planned to kick off shopping between 12:01 a.m. and 3 a.m. Another 28.8 percent planned to arrive between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. And 28.2 percent planned to shop between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Even before they got inside the Toys R Us, more than a few customers were planning their next pre-dawn store visits. Some were anxious to get to a nearby Old Navy store for a 3 a.m. opening. Others were looking forward to Walmart opening a few miles away.

“I just got here from Toys R Us,” said Angie Hermoso, a Fremont resident.

She was in line before 3 a.m. at a Walmart store, in Fremont — even though Walmart wasn’t due to open until 5 a.m. And Hermoso was near the back of the line.

“I’ve got my schedule,” Hermoso said. “Sears, Penney’s, Target and Big 5. I’m going to each one — boom, boom, boom. I like to get my shopping early and I want to get the sales.”

Hermoso and others at Walmart professed to be veterans of pre-dawn Black Friday excursions.

“We’ve been doing this for maybe 10 years,” said Alissa Lee, a Fremont resident. “We buy for a lot of kids.”

Second

thoughts

Not everyone embraced early-morning shopping.

John Sanchez, of Redwood City, was one of 300 people who braved the rain to check out bargains at the Best Buy, in San Carlos, but he was having second thoughts as the clock struck 4 a.m.

“I have been doing this for three years in a row, but this might be the last,” he said, already weary from the crowds and wet weather.

Early shoppers at Slatten Ranch’s JCPenney, in Antioch, were greeted with free Disney snow globes and long lines at the cash registers. Half-price sales, which equated to $12 slow cookers, prompted Oakley’s Audry Williams to patiently wait to buy assorted cookware.

“You just can’t get prices like this any other time of year,” Williams said. “Waiting is the easy part.”

A steady stream of shoppers trickled into San Francisco’s Union Square early Friday.

“I’m not doing Christmas shopping today. I’m just trying to get some bargains for myself,” Oakland resident Fatrie Johnson said.

That was the case with Stacey Allen and her sister Lindsay Allen, both from Concord, who went to Pleasanton’s Stoneridge mall.

“I’m looking for sales on clothes and makeup for myself,” Stacey Allen said.

‘A trade-off’

Westfield Shopping Centre, in San Francisco, opened at 7 a.m. Among the first to arrive was Nina Saunders, of Antioch. Saunders picked Westfield Centre because that mall has more shopping options, albeit fewer sales, than Easy Bay malls, she said.

“It’s a trade-off,” she said.

Numerous shoppers tried to hit multiple door-busters.

Jason Mullins, of Half Moon Bay, went to the Redwood City’s Toys R Us at 12:01 a.m. and then raced to be first in line at Sports Authority, which opened at 5 a.m.

“I’ll wait a few hours,” Mullins said. “My wife is big into saving money, so that’s why I’m doing it.

Mullins hoped it was the last stop — unless his wife were to call him to suggest another store.

Despite arriving at Stoneridge mall at 4 a.m., Pleasanton resident Marina Herrera and daughter Juliana Herrera didn’t uncover as many bargains as they had hoped.

“I found bargains on clothes for my daughter,” Marina Herrera said. “I didn’t find many discounts as I had expected on electronics.”

Herrera and her daughter were planning to visit Union Square for the tree-lighting ceremony, although more shopping wasn’t planned.

“We’ll see about that,” Juliana Herrera told her mom.

Plans go awry

Other shoppers also encountered disappointment, despite meticulous planning. Berkeley sisters Mariam, Maryam and Teresa Lara started researching prices and locations a month ago.

Before dawn, the three sisters trooped over to a Walmart store in Richmond.

“They were advertising an HP 15-inch notebook for $298,” Maryam Lara said. “They were sold out.”

The three did get clothing for their mother and brother at Emeryville’s Bay Street shopping center.

Paul Burns and his wife Parise failed to find the season’s most popular toy, a Zhu Zhu robotic hamster, which they wanted for their child.

“We looked in Oakland and Pleasanton, in Toys R Us and Walmart, but they were all gone,” Paul Burns said.

The Burns family did score a 32-inch flat-screen TV at Best Buy in Pleasanton.

“Black Friday shoppers are a little more anxious and on edge to get what they’re looking for,” said Michelle Vergara, manager at Target in San Mateo’s Bridgepoint Shopping Center.

“If there is pushing and shoving, you will not get in my store,” Vergara told the crowd that wrapped around her Target store.

Some customers weren’t surprised about the crowds in the wee hours.

“You have a recession going on,” said Jamie Knight, who was in the Toys R Us line in Newark.

“People are looking to save what they can,” Knight said as he stood with friends. “If you can save $20 on something, that’s $20 you can spend on something else.”

Staff writers George Avalos, Janis Mara, Eve Mitchell, David Morrill and Business Editor Drew Voros contributed to this story. Reach Avalos at 925-977-8477.