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Macy's Herald Square carries hundreds of thousands of things to buy. But it's no coincidence that so many shoppers left the store early Friday morning with one of the same four items: Rampage boots for women, Justin Bieber perfume, Ralph Lauren pillows and Black & Decker toaster ovens. The department store always promotes tried-and-true draws like jewelry, housewares and coats, but it starts mapping out less predictable best sellers almost as soon as the annual event ends each year. The company scours purchasing data, drafts shopper profiles and tests its customers' appetites to make sure products don't run out until the first round of sales ends at 1 p.m., said Patti M. Lee, district vice president of Macy's Herald Square flagship store. Getting it right on the highest-profile shopping day of the year is crucial if Macy's Inc. is to attract consumers' attention and boost its sales in what has become an fiercely competitive and discount-driven shoppi...

They were the Black Friday novices: people who, drawn by the earlier-than-usual store openings or economic necessity, decided to try their hands at shopping on the busiest day of the retail year. The shoppers found good deals, like a $14.88 waffle iron and 40 percent off Ann Taylor Loft apparel. But assessing their initial Black Friday excursions later, many first-timers did not seem to think it was worth braving the crowds. And while most malls and stores were packed but relatively calm, in California, a woman pepper-sprayed fellow Wal-Mart shoppers, apparently to keep them from grabbing an Xbox she wanted. Two other Wal-Mart shoppers, in San Leandro, Calif., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., were shot in the stores’ parking lots, while police arrested shoppers who were fighting over products in Wal-Mart stores in Milford, Conn., Rome, N.Y. and Kissimmee, Fla. One first-time Black Friday shopper, Debra Banks, 48, was jostled by crowds when she entered a Toys “R” Us in New Jersey and missed ...

  Black Friday, one of America’s biggest days for consumer spending, has been known for its large discounts and crush of early morning shoppers. Some stores are pushing the envelope this year – opening their doors Thanksgiving Day – a step that many say is “going too far.” Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Best Buy will be opening at midnight Thursday. And Walmart is welcoming shoppers even earlier, with a 10 p.m. start time. Pastor David Wright, CEO of DOersTV, told The Christian Post that people, not the stores, are going too far – “especially Christians.” “Black Friday should be called ‘Debt’ Friday,” Wright stated. “Stores are in business and businesses exist to make a profit.” “As Christian consumers we must control the stores and not let the stores and the spirit of this world control us,” he added. CP talked to an Old Navy employee, who worked both the Thanksgiving and Black Friday shift last year. Like us on Facebook “I thought nobody was going to be there on Thanksgiving,...