Nov 29, 2009 By Josh Krysak 5 min read

Undeterred by near freezing temperatures coupled with a slushy rain, shoppers packed into area retailers armed with circular ads and shopping lists as the holiday shopping season started in a frantic burst early Friday. Just after 7:30 a.m. at the Uniontown Mall, Sharon Jackson of Ohiopyle sat on a boxed vacuum cleaner and leaned against a pillar near the Bon Ton, bags stacked neatly around her feet.

Jackson, who started shopping around 6 a.m. with eight other women, said Black Friday shopping is a family tradition and is often referred to as “Me Day” in her circle of friends, noting that despite their best intentions, the women often shop for themselves.

“We do a little Christmas shopping, but we usually end up getting things for ourselves,” she said laughing, as her gaggle of fellow shoppers gathered around in a semi-circle discussing their next move.

While Jackson said her group always battles long lines and often doesn’t have certain purchases in mind before setting out, it is the experience that counts, which this year includes lunch and pedicures.

Outside Claire’s Accessories inside the mall, Mike Leapline of Dunbar sat on a bench behind a cart full of house wares looking forlorn as Christmas music piped down the corridor.

Leapline, who got started shopping around 6 a.m. Friday with his wife, Jackie, said that this was his first experience shopping on Black Friday and noted that he wasn’t sure it was all he thought it would be.

“I wanted to try it after watching the news and hearing about it for years,” Leapline said. “It is really just a lot of running.”

He said that the couple’s primary focus was on discounted house wares and other Christmas presents.

Dave Dunaway, co-owner of Sports Collector’s Universe at the mall, said that while his sports-based hobby shop can’t offer the door buster deals of the major retail chains, he can offer specialty items he hopes will be purchased as Christmas presents and will create a steady flow of holiday business for the specialty shop.

“We opened at 4 a.m., when the other anchors in the building got started, an hour before the mall actually opened,” Dunaway said, as co-owner Bryce Bergen worked checking out a steady stream of customers around 7:15 a.m. Friday.

Dunaway said that in an attempt to capitalize on increased foot traffic during the holiday shopping season, his store, which sells sports cards and sports memorabilia as well as other sports novelty items, will now offer Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins jerseys and also said that prices on many novelty items have been slashed.

Many retailers took a similar approach Friday by opening early and offering discounts on everything from electronics to toys to try and lure customers in the face of grim unemployment numbers and shaky economic forecasts.

According to the Associated Press, market analysts expect that total holiday sales will be at best about even from a year ago with unemployment at 10.2 percent across the nation.

Optimism rose in early fall as shoppers spent a little more, but stores say they’ve seen a sales slowdown since Halloween, putting merchants more on edge.

At the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Dunbar Township, manager Jack Yard said he remained optimistic after early numbers Friday exceeded 2008 figures after the business opened its doors 5 a.m.

“Things have been excellent – hectic and crazy as always – but not as chaotic as other years because we did things a bit differently by forming two lines and helping to flow traffic,” Yard said.

He said the biggest sellers of the morning were laptop computers, LCD television sets and discounted DVDs.

Business was also busy at the Wal-Mart Supercenter, K-Mart and Target in South Union Township, where shoppers arrived in the wee hours Friday to be the first inside the retail centers.

Shortly before 8 a.m. outside the American Eagle at the Uniontown Mall, Julia Casteel of Point Marion sank into a brown leather couch with her packages stacked on top of her, her eyes closed while dozens of shoppers bustled around her.

Casteel, who said her daughter, Erin Strimel “dragged” her out at 2 a.m. to wait in line at Wal-Mart in South Union Township, said that she didn’t have a plan in mind before starting out and has since been relegated to her daughter’s personal assistant beginning before dawn.

“First, I was instructed to wait in line for a GPS device at Wal-Mart and now I am doing this,” Casteel said, as she motioned to the bags stacked around her. “I sit and I wait and I hold the bags,” she said, smiling. “I think we will be done soon, so that is a good thing.”

While Casteel was struggling to stay awake, Jackie Palmar of Uniontown was far from dozing, as she and 14 other women, each decked out in matching red shopping T-shirts, giddily gathered to plan their next moves on a day they look forward to annually.

“Most of us didn’t even go to sleep,” Palmar said, noting that the troop began their shopping at midnight at Toys R Us in Washington.

From there, Palmar said the team hit JC Penney at the Uniontown Mall and then scooted over to Wal-Mart in South Union Township before returning to the mall.

Palmar said that with so many people shopping the group creates a master list each year and tries to make sure to knock out the big and most necessary items for those in the group.

“We make sure the things we need the most are priorities,” Palmar said, noting that the days’ events were still in the beginning stages for the women.

“We go 24 hours so we have a long way to go still,” Palmar said, adding that the group will head to Eat n’ Park before moving to multiple stores in the Pittsburgh area before retiring for the day back at Wal-Mart in South Union Township.