HOLIDAY SHOPPERS ABOUND

Marie Creighton, her daughter, granddaughter and great-grandson took a break from shopping Friday and waited for the rest of the family to catch up.

A big shopping trip on the day after Thanksgiving is a tradition for Creighton of Cape Girardeau and her family who are spread across the country.

"All the girls are home," she said. "We all get together, take the grandkids and go out to lunch and then shopping. We try to plan something special each year."

Creighton and her family were joined by legions of shoppers looking for post-Thanksgiving bargains or something to do on a holiday weekend.

Retailers used deep discounts and pre-dawn promotions today, trying to entice shoppers to buy rather than just browse as they flocked to the stores for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

The biggest draw in the early morning hours: Furby. The furry, gremlin-like talking doll has been in short supply around the nation so shoppers began lining up in the middle of the night, hoping to snag this year's hot Christmas toy.

Some 300 shoppers, many hopeful Furby-buyers, crowded into Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby Shop. People were in line by 4:45 a.m. awaiting the store's 6 a.m. opening. Other toy stores in Cape Girardeau opened their doors to similar lines of shoppers.

Shopping continued with gusto throughout the day all across the region. Parking lots across town were filled, and shoppers carrying packages were everywhere.

Julie Sappington of Jackson and Anita Bell of Cape Girardeau said their children drug them out shopping on a holiday from school.

"I'm really not Christmas shopping," said Bell, who was carrying packages. "I haven't even started yet. I won't start until Christmas Eve. I'll take what's left."

Art Burns and Lee Breidenstein said they took a shopping trip to Cape Girardeau because they were looking for something to do.

"We just came to walk around," said Burns, who lives in Wisconsin, but is vacationing at a cabin south of Thebes, Ill. He did find a couple Christmas gifts -- Mark McGwire baseball caps.

Most merchants are optimistic about the holiday season, buoyed by the recent rise in consumer sentiment and sharp gains in the stock market. That's an outlook much improved from two months ago, when many feared global and economic turmoil would dampen Christmas sales.

"This summer, the consumer was cautious with all the uncertainty going on in the country," said Britt Beemer, who runs America's Research Group, a Charleston, S.C.-based market research firm. "But almost all of those worries are gone and that is good news at the start of the holiday season."

To get people buying, many stores are running their usual sales offering discounts as high as 50 percent, hoping that shoppers don't repeat past habits by waiting for post-Christmas bargains.

"Actually, we probably have more people out shopping today than we expected," said Jim Govero, manager of Westfield Shoppingtown at West Park Mall.

"It's gorgeous outside. We drove through the area and saw great crowds all over town. And there are smiles on faces and everyone is enjoying the day. Everyone is in a good mood."

Creighton agreed. "Everyone should be happy today," she said. "It's a day to be thankful for."

Some information for this story was provided by the Associated Press.