Retailers reported stores jammed with shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving, one of the year's busiest shopping days of the year.

The head of Federated Department Stores said he expected it to be a "good holiday season," but not a "great one."

Terry Lundgren, whose company owns Macy's and J.C. Penny, said it's too soon to tell but it looked like customers are looking for everything from luggage to CD's.

Retailers across the nation opened their doors even earlier than they did last year and offered deeper discounts and even hot coffee to entice customers inside.

Shoppers themselves said they hope to spend less this year "but get more."

Some said they were just along "for the excitement."

At 5:30 a.m. on the first shopping day of the holiday season, eight women in Coleen Baker's family fanned out across a mall in suburban Jacksonville, Fla., with walkie-talkies and cell phones.

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They snapped up a microwave oven, a digital camera and CD players.

By 6:30, Baker had already saved $70.

Darlene Hackney was out early in Raleigh, N.C., with her list as well.

She said if you want the deals, you've got to get up early and wait in the cold.

By the time Wal-Mart's store in Hamburg, N.Y., opened at 6 a.m., 1,000 people were waiting, despite temperatures of 31 degrees.

Many of the particularly big discounts on the day after Thanksgiving were limited, so dedicated bargain hunters arrived early.

At a Wal-Mart in Alpharetta, Ga., a supply of discounted personal video players sold out in just 12 minutes.

Shoppers Locked Out

Getting up early on the day after Thanksgiving didn't mean a head-start for shoppers in Lafayette, La.

They got to the city's biggest retailers to find that the locks on dozens of those stores had apparently been glued shut by vandals.

Hundreds of shoppers were kept waiting on line, as store managers brought in locksmiths to drill the doors and remove the locks.

One locksmith said the glue must have been pretty strong. He said it gummed up everything inside the locks.

Analysts Predict Big Sales

If analysts are correct you'll be getting and giving more gifts this holiday season.

New York analyst Tara Weiner looks for a much better year than the past few. She says sales for November, December and the important month of January could be up five and a half to six percent.

Other analysts look for gains in the range of three to four percent for November and December, which would be about the same as a year ago.

While the day after Thanksgiving is busy for retailers, it's usually not the biggest, according to MasterCard International.

Instead, the busiest day of the year most likely will occur on Dec. 23 and the busiest hour most likely will be from 2 to 3 p.m. CST on Christmas Eve.

Typically, the busiest days tend to be on Saturdays during December.

The patterns are based on analysis of MasterCard's transaction data from the past several holiday seasons.