Ready, set, shop -- Black Friday is here

Droves of shoppers hungry for bargains skipped all-day feasts and family time on Thursday to get an early start on huge Black Friday sales, as a record number of stores opened on Thanksgiving in an effort to drum up much-needed sales. Sears, Walmart, Target, Banana Republic and Gap were among the stores that welcomed customers on Thanksgiving, eager to start early on analysts’ projections that holiday sales will approach 2007 levels after a record decline in 2008 and stagnant spending in 2009 rattled the industry.