It was a Black Friday, with rainy skies, to boot.
But the mood shared by many area shoppers and retailers was anything but dark on this first day of the Christmas shopping season.
"There was politeness. Everyone is very patient today," said Val Brown, store executive for Target at Hempfield Square, as she opened boxes with electronics department manager Pam Pawlik yesterday morning.
According to statistics from the International Council of Shopping Centers, last year's Thanksgiving weekend shopping represented just 10 percent of sales during the Christmas season. Black Friday typically is touted as a benchmark for the holiday season sales, but the heaviest sales occurred Dec. 16-24, according to the ICSC's 2002 figures.
Both Brown and Pawlik have worked at Target since it opened five years ago and were pleased to see the easy-going nature of yesterday's shoppers, who were mostly fixated on electronics purchases.
"We're selling a lot of portable DVD players, digital cameras. We're all out of karaoke machines," Pawlik said.
Employee Andrew Gehly pointed to the dwindling display of portable DVD players. "I've filled that end cap four times. That's the end of them," he said.
Across Route 30 at Wal-Mart, JoAnn Sebastiani, of Greensburg, decided to sleep a little later. She didn't start shopping until 9:30 a.m.
"I'm usually here at 6 a.m., but we had a late night last night," she giggled. "I had a friend who came early and got me some stuff."
She caught a couple of extra hours of sleep because she had no high-priority gift items.
"There's really not anything big or in demand this year. If there was, I would have been here at 6 a.m."
Sebastiani said she wasn't able to snag a remote-control Hummer for her 6-year-old but was elated about the 8-foot inflatable Christmas tree she discovered for just $24.99.
"This is a great deal. I've seen this for $100," she said.
She also noticed the pleasant demeanor of fellow shoppers and store employees. "Everyone is very polite. The employees were very helpful."
At Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield Township, parking spots were hard to find as drivers searched for a place close to the entrances to avoid getting caught in the sporadic bursts of rain showers.
Things were cheerfully hectic at JCPenney and 16-year veteran employee Cheryl Fowler, a member of the store's pricing team, couldn't be happier. "We're doing very well. People are buying a lot of Steelers things and appliances, mostly. It's better than last year. I was up at 3 this morning and when I got here at 4, they were lined up around the building."
Fowler said she enjoys working on Black Friday. "I do it every year. I keep coming back for more."
Dana Greene, JCPenney's senior department manager, said the freebee snow globes for early-bird shoppers went quickly, but he couldn't pinpoint a specific item that was attracting the healthy crowd. "Things are good," he said.
Ligonier residents Mary Jane Beaufort, her daughter-in-law Rhonda Beaufort, and Mary Jane's daughter, Susan Ankney, were on their first Black Friday expedition. The three decided to venture out because Ankney had the day off from her job at Westmoreland Manor.
"We're spending less this year. I'm buying clothes for the grandchildren ... but no toys. They've got too many," Mary Jane Beaufort said with a smile.
Helen Greene, of Purchase Line, Indiana County, and her 10-year-old granddaughter, Courtney, sat outside Ruby Tuesday restaurant waiting for a table. Family members were enjoying their 12th annual group shopping spree.
"It's a family tradition. We started with our grandsons when they were around 10 years old. That was 12 years ago. Now one's in school and one's working, so they can't come. We miss them. There should be nine of us, but there are only seven today," she said.
Greene said the family shopping excursion is aimed at letting the grandchildren pick exactly what they want. Courtney wanted a Bratz Doll, a saucy Barbie doll cousin with luminous eyes and flashy accessories. They would look for one after lunch, Greene said.
In fact, the Bratz Dolls were just about the only toy that showed a less-than-sensational response by shoppers yesterday, according to Erin Devericks, store director at Toys 'R' Us in Hempfield Township. There was no need to scramble for one because supplies were ample, she said.
"The Bratz are pretty popular, as well as the Game Boy Advance we had on special," she said.
Devericks echoed the observations of other shoppers and retailers about the well-behaved crowds this year. "It was awesome. There were no fist fights," she joked. "There were no issues last year, either. We focused on keeping register lanes open. All the guests enjoyed themselves today."
Linda Willochell, a seven-year employee who worked as a greeter yesterday, said customers remarked to her about the store's orderliness. "They said we were well-organized at 5 a.m. The customers said we were very pleasant for 5 a.m."
Inside the store, George and Bev Taylor, of Creekside, Indiana County, weren't looking for Bratz Dolls. Their two granddaughters are just 2 months and 2 years old, and their other five grandchildren are boys. They were browsing among the Leap Frog Learning Pads for appropriate gifts.
"We usually spend $150 on each grandchild, and we've got two more this year, so we're spending more," said George Taylor.
Bev Taylor said they had done the 5 a.m. shopping sprees in the past and saw no reason to continue. "We left at 9:30 a.m. today. There are more places to shop around here and more competition, so you can find good bargains. There's no reason to go at 5 a.m., because they only put out a few of the special items. I've never gotten any of them coming out at 5 a.m."
Folks started waiting in line at 2 a.m. for Best Buy in Hempfield Township to open four hours later.
The electronics store had numerous bargains for six hours only yesterday. By 8 a.m., people had gobbled up many of the $11.99 DVDs and a DVD player being sold for $19.99 after a rebate.
For a time, employees wound the checkout line through aisles of CDs and DVDs at the rear of the store, keeping many customers from browsing. And just when customers thought they were reaching the seven checkouts, the line was diverted through six aisles of appliances.
Some reported waiting in line for two hours during the morning sales at Best Buy -- carting off 24-inch televisions for $100 and laptop computers for $500.
The store was so full that employees had to keep some customers waiting outside until more people left the store.
And people parked wherever they could find a space -- including the Citizens Bank next door. Best Buy employees had to make an announcement several times for the owner of a car parked on the sidewalk to move. A white-haired woman finally emerged from the line to move her car.
At the North Versailles Wal-Mart in Allegheny County, so many bargain hunters showed up that police officers from four departments were called to untangle a parking lot traffic jam.
North Versailles police Sgt. Steve Latsko said police "shut down" the lot because of the traffic. Shoppers began lining up at 5 a.m., an hour before the store's opening time.
Latsko said two shoppers were transported by ambulance to UPMC Braddock hospital. One passed out, and the other apparently was accidentally hit by a DVD, he said.
