Shoppers showed you never can put out the Black Friday door-busters too early, crowding in for cheap Xbox games and $199 big-screen TVs as retailers opened their doors as early as 9 p.m. Thursday.

Next year, the really ambitious may be eating their Thanksgiving dinners at the stores.

The first real glimpse of sales figures for the top shopping day of the year may come Sunday in a survey from the National Retail Federation.

Meanwhile, veteran store managers said they were impressed with the early traffic at traditional Black Friday powerhouses such as best buy and JCPenney.

Their Brandon stores opened earlier than ever, with best buy cracking its doors at midnight and JCPenney going with a soft opening at 3 a.m.

Katie Schifferli of Sarasota showed up at the Brandon best buy at 11:30 p.m. Thursday for the midnight opening, woefully late. She saw a line stretching out the building, so she made a beeline for a breakfast spot instead.

“I think the lines for the 12 o’clock opening were much worse, because I think people are more willing to stay up,” Schifferli said.

Her husband is eyeing a new TV and they’ll get a laptop, as well.

Big sellers at best buy included a 42-inch Sharp LCD TV for $199, a $39.99 Toshiba Blu-ray disc player and a 55-inch Samsung LED TV for $999.99, store manager John Downey said.

At least 50 people crammed the Apple store at Westfield Brandon around 10 a.m. Friday, grabbing discounts in a store not known for sales.

The biggest price breaks were on big-ticket iMac and MacBook computers. the iMac starts at $1,098 and was offered at a $101 discount Friday.

The sale was a rare find for Mike and Kathy Hayes of Lithia, who found themselves “sucked into” Apple. They picked up a cover for their iPod for $30.

“We probably wouldn’t have gotten this if it hadn’t been on sale,” Mike Hayes said.

Retailers hope shoppers will spend more this year despite Florida’s continuing unemployment problems and growing fears about Europe’s debt crisis. the National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to rise 2.8 percent compared with last year.

That’s far behind last year’s 5.2 percent increase, but still a little better than average.

In Hillsborough County, sales tax collections have risen every month this year compared with last year, according to Florida Department of Revenue data. People seem more willing to spend this year.

Several shoppers said the crowds seemed lighter than usual by mid-morning Friday, maybe because so many midnight shoppers had gone home. That could make future Black Fridays less of a hassle for people who don’t like all the crowds.

In Wesley Chapel, the Shops at Wiregrass was fairly quiet Friday morning, with sparse crowds and uncluttered sidewalks — a major change from the mall’s first Christmas season in 2009.

Where were all the people?

“Walmart,” said Debra Virgilio, who came from Brooksville with her daughter and granddaughters to shop at Build-A-Bear Workshop and Victoria’s Secret.

Virgilio said she didn’t miss the crowds.

“It makes it easy to get around,” she said.

A few miles north, parking was tight at the Grove in Wesley Chapel, home to big-box stores including Toys R Us, best buy and Michaels.

Outside best buy, a trash can overflowed with empty water bottles and half-eaten food, testament to the campers who lined up well in advance to get Black Friday deals.

Inside, the aisles were full but the crowd was civilized.

Mall and superstore workers must get used to ever-earlier hours. JCPenney was going to open at 4 a.m. Friday, but wound up opening at 3 to accommodate a line of customers, store manager Connie Lant said.

Toys R Us set the early standard this year by opening at 9 p.m. Thursday, while Walmart debuted door-buster sales at 10 p.m.

National superstores get the most attention, but some small shops have begun getting into the Black Friday act too.

At tiny Read More Comics in Brandon, people lined up Friday for a 5 a.m. opening. the store knocked 50 percent off the price of comics and 35 percent off comic hero statues until 8 a.m.

Read More Comics started opening early on Black Friday three years ago and customers now mark it on their calendar.

Said store employee Shawn Scott, “We’re at about seven times what we do on a normal Friday.”

Putting the carts before remorse

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Happy Cyber Monday! I’ve always preferred this “holiday” to Black Friday, as it allows me to shop in my preferred garb: bathrobe and slippers. (Tried that on a Black Friday once; I am no longer welcome in the mall.)

Indeed, this is arguably this biggest shopping day of the year for the ol’ Cheapskate, as all the deals are, by definition, online. I’ll be discussing some of my favorites live today on CNET’s Holiday Help Desk, which airs at 3 p.m. ET, noon PT.

In the meantime, here are some assorted Cyber Monday goodies to tide you over:

1. Today only, and while supplies last, Newegg has the Samsung E2420L 24-inch LCD monitor for $129.99 shipped when you apply coupon code CMBFET3. Okay, technically it’s a 23.6-inch monitor, one that offers full 1080p resolution and VGA/DVI inputs.

2. also at Newegg, you can score a Haier L42C1180 42-inch HDTV for $299 shipped. That’s not quite the $199 Sharp 42-incher that best Buy had on Black Friday, but at least you don’t have to sacrifice a night’s sleep and risk bodily harm. And any way you slice it, $299 is a killer deal on a 42-inch TV.

3. also also at Newegg (didn’t really intend to make this an all-Newegg post), grab the G.Skill 8GB laptop RAM kit for $24.99 shipped. That’s an insanely cheap way to give your laptop a performance boost, especially if it has only 2-4GB of RAM at present. (Do note, however, that if you’re running a 32-bit version of Windows, the extra RAM is wasted. You need a 64-bit OS to take advantage of more than 4GB.)

4. this isn’t the best Flip Video deal I’ve seen, but it’s right up there–and a great stocking-stuffer. PC Connection has the Flip Video UltraHD 4GB pocket camcorder for $44.99, plus around $6 for shipping. this model shoots 720p video and includes an HDMI output for connecting to your TV. It’s new, not refurbished.

5. Today only, and while supplies last, Sellout.woot has the refurbished TomTom XXL 550 5-inch GPS for $54.99, plus $5 for shipping. That’s the lowest price I’ve ever seen–by a lot–for a 5-inch GPS. And it even has a six-month warranty, twice what you usually get on a refurb. You also get TomTom’s Latest Map Guarantee, meaning you get to download one map update free of charge.

Have you found any killer Cyber Monday deals? If so, let’s hear about ‘em in the comments!

Five great Cyber Monday deals

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Consistent with U.S. kids’ 2010 wish lists, the Apple iPad is the most desired consumer electronic among kids ages 6-12 for holiday 2011. in fact, the iPad increases its stronghold, with nearly half (44%) of kids expressing interest in the product, up from 31 percent in 2010. Two other popular Apple devices – iPod Touch (30%) and iPhone (27%) – round out kids’ top three, with computers and other tablet brands each appealing to a quarter of younger consumers.

Many kids will also ask for gaming devices this year, with two products that offer unique gaming technologies – Nintendo 3DS (25%) and Kinect for Xbox 360 (23%) – leading the way. Given the 3DS’ spring 2011 release date and the surge in Kinect interest versus last year (up from 14%), parents can expect both devices to be frequently requested this holiday season. Beyond these, older Nintendo DS models continue to resonate with young gamers (22%), while the PlayStation 3 (17%) and Xbox 360 (16%) edge out the Nintendo Wii (11%) as the most desired gaming consoles.

Among consumers ages 13 and older, appeal for the iPad (24%) has also broadened relative to last year (18%), and exceeds that of computers (18%), 2010’s top item. further, it appears the iPad has successfully paved the way for other tablet offerings, as a notable 17 percent of adults/teens also express interest in non-Apple tablets.

When a kid I wanted a Schwinn for Christmas. Today’s kids want an iPad. Imagine next gen’s wishes. – mcculley design lab

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Some of the facts that result of this Q and a are thus: the release date of Nexus S is indeed Thursday, December 16, 2010. It can be purchased at large best Buy stores, best Buy Mobile stand-along stores (in malls, etc,) through Bestbuy.com, and over the phone at 855-813-2021. NOTE though that there is no overseas shipping at this time. The phone will be available as an unlocked phone with no contract and no activation or locked with a 2-year T-Mobile contract. there are no pre-orders, and will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis via a ticketing system similar to what best Buy used on Black Friday.

Although some stores might still be in the process of getting prepared for the launch (aka you’ll call them up and they’ll have no idea what they’re doing,) Nexus S will indeed be available at ALL best Buy locations. there IS a limit to the amount of phones a single person can buy: 2, and that goes for activated units and units purchased outright. at the moment, best Buy cannot comment on their inventory numbers, so good luck.

Check out the rest of the questions in the official Q&a list from best Buy below:

The Google Nexus S smartphone, manufactured by Samsung, is one of the hottest mobile devices of the holiday season. questions have been pouring in ever since the Nexus S was officially announced, so we’ve collected and categorized some of the most frequent customer concerns for easy reference.

THE BASICSWhen will the Google Nexus S be available to purchase? The Nexus S will be available Thursday, December 16, 2010