Stefan Rood, 20, folds blankets as he cleans out his tent outside a Best Buy Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. while waiting for the store to open at 12 a.m. on Friday. Rood, who has been camped out since Wednesday night, is looking to buy a new cell phone. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Stefan Rood, 20, folds blankets as he cleans out his tent outside a Best Buy Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. while waiting for the store to open at 12 a.m. on Friday. Rood, who has been camped out since Wednesday night, is looking to buy a new cell phone. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
A customer makes a purchase in the Times Square Toys-R-Us store after doors were opened to the public at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in New York. While stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Dora Hurtado waits in line at a Pembroke Pines, Fla. Toys-R-Us store, late Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. While stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Shoppers wait in line for the 8 p.m. opening of the Times Square Toys-R-Us store in the lead-up to Black Friday, November 22, 2012, in New York. While stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Shoppers position themselves for the midnight opening of many stores at the Clackamas Town Center for Black Friday sales Thursday Nov. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. Rasmussen)
Hordes of shoppers are descending on stores to snap up the best deals of the year.
Black Friday, the day when retailers traditionally turn a profit for the year, actually got a jump start this year as many stores opened just as families were finishing up Thanksgiving dinner.
Stores are experimenting with ways to compete with online rivals like Amazon.com that can offer holiday shopping deals at any time and on any day. And this year, crowds gathered across the country as stores such as Target and Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving evening, while retailers from Macy's to Best Buy opened their doors at midnight on Black Friday.
"I only shop for sales," says Joan Riedewald, one of thousands of shoppers on line at Macy's flagship store in New York City's Herald Square.
Retailers are hoping that the earlier openings will help boost sales this holiday season. It is unclear how many shoppers took advantage of the earlier openings. But about 17 percent of shoppers said earlier this month that they planned to shop at stores that opened on Thanksgiving, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs survey. Overall, it's estimated that sales on Black Friday will be up 3.8 percent to $11.4 billion this year.
Here, in images, are scenes from Black Friday from across the nation:
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