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U.S. retailers opened their doors at midnight and discounted merchandise as much as 70 percent on the day after Thanksgiving to entice customers during what may be the worst holiday shopping season in six years.

Best Buy Co. chopped prices on a Toshiba Corp. satellite laptop computer to $379.99, a $270 discount, while Gap Inc. had a buy-one-get-one free holiday sweater offer, to lure customers on so-called Black Friday, the traditional start to the holiday shopping season that makes up a third or more of retailers’ annual profit.

“I’m concerned,” Matthew Katz, a New York-based retail consultant with AlixPartners LLP, said today in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “The storm that we’re facing has moved from Wall Street to Main Street.”

Individuals may spend an average of $616 on holiday gifts this year, down 29 percent from a year earlier, according to a Gallup Inc. poll. Consumer spending makes up more than two- thirds of the U.S. economy, which has dropped into a recession amid declining consumer confidence and rising unemployment.

A worker was trampled by customers and killed at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location in Long Island, New York, according to local police and the company. At least four other shoppers were hurt at the store in Valley Stream, located about 13 miles (20 kilometers) from New York City, Nassau County Police said in a statement.

Retailers promote “doorbuster” deals to attract customers on Black Friday, said to be when retailers started to make their annual profit, having paid off their costs from sales earlier in the year.

Saving Money

“We’re out to save money,” said 62-year-old Jeanne Molloy, who was taking a bus from New York City to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York, with a friend and an empty suitcase yesterday. “The economy is bad.”

At the Fort Henry Mall in Kingsport, Tennessee, about 150 people milled around at 4:45 a.m., waiting for the opening of Belks Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. stores offering specials on sweaters, binoculars, and luggage.

Brenda Little, 42, said she was disappointed at the sales this year and said the only reason she was out at the crack of dawn was for her 14-year-old daughter, Marie, who combed the mall in search of a cheap iPod and snow boots.

Her family is cutting back their Christmas budget because of the economy, drawing names with in-laws to buy a single gift for one person rather than smaller items for everybody, Little said.

Her husband, a contractor, has survived one round of layoffs at his company, Little said. While his job is safe for now, “you still have to watch it down the road in case just after Christmas that does happen,” she said.

Holiday Forecast

November and December sales at stores open at least a year may rise 1 percent, the smallest gain since 2002, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade group.

Retailers used lower prices at earlier hours to win customers that were starting their holiday shopping with less than four weeks before Christmas.

Kohl’s Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. department store, opened at 4 a.m. Wal-Mart and Macy’s Inc. had a 5 a.m. start. Gap opened some locations on Thanksgiving Day.

Retail stocks have tumbled this year along with the U.S. economy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Retailing Index was down 35 percent through Nov. 26 and dropped another 1.6 percent today, with Tiffany & Co. and Target Corp. leading the way lower.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has bucked the trend, with its emphasis on low prices winning customers during the economic slump. The retailer is the only Dow Jones Industrial Average company to have risen this year. It’s gained 18 percent, while the 30-member index has tumbled 33 percent.

Black Friday

Black Friday discounts pulled in consumers who felt the pinch of the economic slump and higher fuel prices earlier this year.

Crowds at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, today “gives me optimism that that the 2 percent growth I’m forecasting can be reached” during the holiday period, Jay McIntosh, president of Consumer Foresight LLC, a Chicago-based consulting firm, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Under-30 adults, who may not have been hurt as much as older consumers by stock-market declines, were out shopping, McIntosh said.

“Virtually every store I walked by was crowded,” McIntosh said. “The small specialty retail stores were crowded. Last year, they weren’t.”

Malls operated by Taubman Centers Inc. saw a similar preponderance of young shoppers, spokeswoman Karen MacDonald said.

The Fairlane Town Center mall in Dearborn, Michigan, had more early and younger shoppers this year, MacDonald said in an e-mail. About 75 lined up at the Aeropostale location by 4:30 a.m.

Macy’s Holidays

Fitness personality Richard Simmons, wearing red-and-white- striped very short shorts, sneakers and a red muscle shirt with fluffy white Santa trim, bounced around the outside of Macy’s in New York’s Herald Square early this morning, where crowds mobbed every entrance in advance of its opening.

Richard Feijoo, 21, and his twin brother Jesus from Brooklyn were waiting at the front of the line at Herald Square and were shopping for themselves.

“It’s low prices, a good store and it’s Black Friday, so we’re here early,” Richard said. “Jeans, Levi’s, only clothes. I go shopping at Macy’s in Brooklyn so I know exactly what I’m looking for.

“This is all about me here right now. Today we get to be selfish a little bit,” said Richard, who said his Christmas gift budget is a bit less than last year.

There were 5,000 people waiting to get in, Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

‘Great Values’

“A lot of folks are walking out with bags,” Lundgren said. “We got them in with great values, and what I really hoped is that they will spend more of whatever they’re going to spend at Macy’s, even if it’s less than last year.”

A drop in consumer spending in October and weakening U.S. business investment signal that the U.S. economy may sink further in coming months.

Americans cut spending by 1 percent last month, the biggest decline since the 2001 recession. After adjusting for inflation, spending was down for the fifth straight month, the longest streak since 1990-1991, according to Commerce Department data.

That’s evidenced by people competing for bargains in front of stores this holiday season.

“There is no fun in this,” said Angel Croll, a single mom with two children, who arrived at a Kohl’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina, 55 minutes before it opened at 4 a.m.

Knife Prices Cut

More than 400 people lined up behind the 33-year-old auditor, who planned to buy two knife sets regularly priced at $99.99 each for $29.99.

Next she headed to a Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. store for three coats marked half off at $39.99 and then to Wal-Mart for clothes, toys and a $69 Samsung digital camera. She plans to spend $400 to $500 on Christmas gifts, down from $600 last year.

“My children would not be able to get half of what I’m getting them without Black Friday,” Croll said.

In San Jose, California, resident Akin Scott, 46, said he’s looking to spend about $1,500 this year on holiday shopping, down from roughly $2,000 last year.

A family member wants an iPhone, though items on the top of wish lists are going to get more careful scrutiny this year, Scott said.

“We’re having to think really hard about that,” he said.