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The recession wasn’t messing with Kokomo’s Black Friday.

Though the local unemployment rates top 10 percent, that didn’t seem to have an impact on the shoppers who began lining up as early as Thursday night to get stores’ door-buster savings.

Black Friday is seen as the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season, and retailers were hoping to ring up some big sales to boost lagging profits. In an attempt to reel in the expected 190 million customers, who analysts projected would spend an average of $300 to $400 on Friday, stores were offering sales of half price or better on hot holiday items.

Although the store is open 24/7, at the Markland Avenue Meijer, customers began lining up as early as 1 a.m. to take advantage of door-buster savings that were in effect from 5 a.m. until noon.

Around 4:30 a.m., a store manager and cashier checked and rechecked sale items’ prices. Shoppers were already in the store’s 28 checkout lines waiting for the 5 a.m. start time.

“We are going to be off and running,” said store manager Michael McDonald. “We are excited for this and we are ready for this. We are expecting a good turnout.”

Anticipating an early frenzy of shoppers, many stores increased security measures to help ensure customer safety.

Last year on Black Friday, a New York Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by customers who made a mad dash for sale items when the doors opened. Wal-Mart was cited for inadequate crowd management after the incident and had to create a crowd-management plan for its stores.

Furthermore, for the first time, acknowledging deep discounts and super sales can create unruly crowds, the National Retail Federation created a comprehensive crowd-control plan.

Meijer’s plan was to direct customers to different parts of the store where the sale items were located. The customers could get items and then wait until 5 a.m. to purchase them.

“It’s been calm and organized,” said McDonald. “We’ve heard a lot of positive comments from people who have been here since midnight.”

Though the sales attracted huge early bird crowds locally, not everyone was excited to be out shopping.

Christi Moorman got an early start so she could shop at both Kokomo malls, Wal-Mart and “every place else having a sale,” said her husband, Darnell. While Christi was inside the Markland Mall shopping at 6 a.m., Darnell sat in his car listening to sports-talk radio.

“If it’s on sale today, it will be on sale tomorrow. If it’s not, we don’t have to have it,” he said. “This is all her idea. I got the day off and I am just being a good husband. I am going to have to carry all that stuff in once we get home.”

Despite deep markdowns, some industry analysts are expecting changes in consumer spending habits.

David R. Rink, professor of marketing at Indiana University Kokomo, said several of his students working in area retail stores have noticed more customers paying for merchandise with debit cards, checks and cash more often, which is a complete turnaround from habits as recently as two years ago. He attributed it to consumers attempting to stay out of debt and keep their holiday spending in check.

“... Consumers have cut back drastically on spending during the previous 10 months of 2009; now they’re ready to cut loose. Time will tell,” said Rink.

Because of a recent job furlough, Shannon Morgan will not have as much money to spend this holiday season.

Therefore, her money has to stretch a little further this year to buy gifts for her family. As a result, enduring long lines and cold weather didn’t concern the Peru woman Friday morning.

“I’ve been here since 7 a.m. and it’s not bad at all,” said Morgan, while shopping at the Kokomo Mall. “If you are going to shop, you have to remember you are not the only one out here and there are going to be some delays and what have you. It only happens once a year, so have a good time with it and find those sales.”

Stores and malls were not the only places for shoppers seeking Black Friday bargains.

Online automotive resource Edmunds.com noticed a 10 percent increase in Web-based car shopping in recent weeks, it suggested this weekend, car dealerships may enjoy an uptick in sales as well.

Based on current sales trends, Edmunds.com anticipates November’s sales will total approximately 710,000 units, generating a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of 10.34, down from 10.43 million in October 2009.

Edmunds.com analysts believe there is a possible upside depending on the strength of the weekend.

“Every holiday weekend provides a marketing opportunity for car dealers,” said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “Even with the long Thanksgiving weekend, however, November tends to be one of the worst months of the year for car sales. Historically, only January — when many people are still recovering from holiday gift shopping sprees — is a worse sales month.”

Regardless of whether shoppers made it out to the Black Friday store sales, Marie Dubuque, a former TV consumer reporter and certified credit counselor said the deals won’t end there.

“You can always negotiate a price, but most people are afraid to talk to the manager. What’s the worst that they can say? Turn you down?” said Dubuque, who maintains a blog: www.firstladyoffreebies.blogspot.com.

“The main thing is don’t pay top price for anything. There are too many sales during Christmas. There are sales everywhere.”

• K.O. Jackson is the Kokomo Tribune’s business writer. He can be reached at (765) 854-6739 or via e-mail kirven.jackson@kokomotribune.com