Teen shoppers were out in force, and people appeared to be buying more for themselves — two good signs for the holiday season between US Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on Thursday, and Christmas on Dec. 25. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the US economy.

"This is shaping up to be one of the biggest Black Fridays we've seen," said David Bassuk, managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners, citing store promotions and intense advertising campaigns.

As retailers look for their best holiday season in three years, less generous deals could help them avoid steep discounts later and bode well for their margins. Early anecdotes showed markdowns of 30 percent to 50 percent were most prevalent.

"I'm looking at the TV and it says save $70 and I'm like, come on, you've got to be kidding," said Sanjay Patil as he and other shoppers waited outside a Best Buy Co. Inc. store in Princeton, New Jersey, before midnight, even though the electronics retailer didn't open until 5 a.m.

"If it's Black Friday, it has to be 100 or 120 bucks savings minimum," he said.

"Consumers are more focused on quality than in the last couple of years," Macy's Inc. CEO Terry Lundgren said in an interview. "There has been this strong message from consumers: 'I'm not just going to buy the least expensive sweater you have. I want to buy the sweater that is the best quality for the lowest price.'"

Black Friday is a term adopted by retailers to refer to the time of year when their businesses move into the black, or turn a profit. This year they aim to keep sales momentum that has picked up modestly as the economy recovers.

Despite the Black Friday hoopla, there are still four more weeks until Christmas. With consumers showing a tendency to do much of their shopping at the last minute, analysts say Black Friday is not a strong predictor for the season as a whole.

Initial data on Friday traffic and sales are expected in the next two days from industry groups. Retailers report November sales results next Thursday.

Retail analysts hopping from shopping malls to big-box stores to gauge traffic levels reported discounts close to 30 percent for apparel and accessories, while prices for flat-screen televisions using older technologies were discounted more steeply.

But to Andrea Arzu, 22, a medical assistant shopping in the drizzle in downtown Boston, the picture was clear. "I felt like everything is more expensive this year than last year," she said.

The National Retail Federation has said up to 138 million people could hit stores this weekend. The industry trade group forecast a 2.3 percent increase in sales during November and December, up from a 0.4 percent rise in 2009.

Retail stocks have rallied on investor hopes for a better-than-expected holiday season. The Standard & Poor's Retail index closed at its highest level in over three years on Wednesday but was off 0.36 percent on Friday.

Teen retail chains like Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters were among the few shares that rose on Friday, with slight declines for top discounters Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp.

"More teenagers are shopping and paying higher prices, which shows that consumers are more willing to spend their discretionary income as opposed to saving it," said Jharonne Martis-Olivo, director of consumer research, Thomson Reuters.

Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch told Reuters it appeared that shopper lines were longer than last year. Customers "seem to be purchasing big baskets," he said.

"I'm spending more this year than last year," said George Lum, a 30-year-old hospital worker, as he sat in a lawn chair outside a Target store in Princeton, more than four hours before its 4 a.m. opening. He was hoping to buy a 40-inch Westinghouse flatscreen LCD high-definition TV for $298.

"We've been up since 8 a.m. Thursday," Krystal Mercer, a Charlotte, North Carolina, city employee, said as she shopped at a Wal-Mart. "By the time you want to sleep Thursday night, you start getting excited about the stores opening early Friday. The adrenaline just gets going."