Cari Disney spends the early morning hours of every Friday after Thanksgiving scouring for deals at the malls, and this year she noticed a major change: Less competition.

“It seems like there’s less people,” she said. “The lines are shorter.”

Catharine Pangratz, group marketing director at Hamilton Place mall, said officials there are “anticipating a more moderate holiday” this year in the wake of an economic crisis that has brought layoffs by the hundreds to the Chattanooga area.

Still, Ms. Pangratz said, the turnout Friday morning seemed good.

“Traffic is great,” she said. “The parking lot is full.”

The Friday after Thanksgiving, which retailers often call Black Friday, traditionally has been known as the biggest shopping day of the year, though in recent years the Saturday before Christmas has brought out more shoppers. The name comes from the fact that black ink indicates a profit in sales ledgers, while red ink is used for a loss.

The National Retail Federation this year expects a slightly lower turnout at stores over the weekend, but retailers were hoping lower gas prices would mean more holiday spending cash for shoppers.

“Shoppers who held off buying a DVD player or winter coat over the last few months will find that prices may literally be too good to pass up,” federation President Tracy Mullin said in a statement.

Ms. Disney, of Knoxville, traveled to Chattanooga to see family members but was out at 5 a.m. Friday, trying to find the best bargains at Northgate Mall and Hamilton Place.

“I try to find as much as possible on sale,” she said.

Just a couple of miles away on Lee Highway, customers started lining up at Sam’s Warehouse at midnight, even though the doors didn’t open until 5 a.m., said Matt Shipman, the store’s operations manager. A crowd of about 140 people was standing outside when the doors opened, he said.

Wii station video games were in such high demand, store officials distributed tickets to make sure the people who stood longest in line had first opportunity to purchase the game. All the Wii games sold out by 6 a.m., Mr. Shipman said.

Shoppers were coming in all day for flatscreen TVs and other electronics, he said, and more than 1,000 people packed the store by 3 p.m., which is typical for Friday shopping.

Still, while crowds were good, sales were not stupendous.

“If we compare it to last year, this morning was successful, I’m not going to say it wasn’t,” Mr. Shipman said. “But we were a bit behind last year (in sales).”

About 4 p.m., Wal-Mart officials on Brainerd Road said sales there are better this year than last but said they were too tied up with customers to give specific details. They said they also have Wii games available.

Carrie Bethune, a shopper at the hhgregg electronics store near Hamilton Place, said she’s looking for every way she can to save this holiday season.

“Just trying to stretch the dollar,” she said. “I have not been up this early for a sale in 15 years.”

Like Ms. Bethune, many shoppers were on the lookout for bargains, but Ms. Pangratz said she didn’t know if that meant discount stores, such as Sam’s, would win out this year over higher-end retail establishments.

“There are several higher-end retailers that are doing very well,” she said.

One of the mall’s stores, KB Toys, opened at midnight, to what store manager Marsha Payne called a big rush. But nobody got hurt, she said.

“Everybody was orderly, they had a good time. They were in good spirits,” she said.

Business at Hamilton Place continued steadily throughout the morning and by 11 a.m. actually was picking up, Ms. Pangratz said. The mall’s food court was full at that time, she said, and she was seeing a lot of customers with shopping bags.

“Not everybody likes to get up at the crack of dawn,” she noted.

About 5 p.m., she said the mall had been busy all day, but she wasn’t able to say if sales were better or worse than last year.

“It’s too close to call,” she said.

Staff writer Yolanda Putman contributed to this story.

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