In the retail industry, the day after Thanksgiving -- Black Friday -- typically serves as the kick-off for the Christmas shopping season.

But for retailers and consumers alike, 2008 has been far from typical.

A credit crunch, crumbling financial markets and a weakening economy have caused consumer confidence to slip and expectations to darken for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

"I think everybody I know is looking for good deals this year, just because of the way things are," said Lesa Patterson, a 45-year-old Longmont resident who, in the past, has made a family affair out of Black Friday by hitting the early morning deals and even camping out all night with members of her family back in Georgia.

This year, her first Thanksgiving away from Georgia, Patterson plans to go out with a few friends on Friday to "hopefully find a few good bargains."

Among various research projections, the glass-half-full expectation is a 2.2 percent increase in sales as compared to last year, and the glass-half-empty expectation is a nearly 10 percent drop.

"This year, they will not spend more than they did last year," said Marshal Cohen, a chief industry analyst for research firm The NPD Group Inc. "The consumer doesn't have the credit on their credit card and doesn't have the ability to get store credit."

Watching spending trends and seeing the expectations for the holiday shopping season, retailers already have been pulling out the stops to get consumers in the door, said George Anderson, editor-in-chief of RetailWire.com, an online retail industry discussion and news site. In a sense, he said, Black Friday started a week before Halloween.

"It's definitely a buyers' market this year, but the question is whether buyers will actually be buying," he said.

Lafayette resident Sue Ann Todhunter, 60, has been a regular Black Friday shopper for many years, "braving the long lines and cold as early as 4 a.m." -- actions she said are worth it when she gets her holiday shopping done in one morning.

"I guess the economy is affecting me somewhat, in that I'm not planning on buying as much as in the past, although it's hard to pass up such good deals, regardless," Todhunter wrote in an e-mail to the Camera.

This year, Todhunter scoured six Black Friday-related Web sites to put together a game plan and a shopping list for a variety of stores. Her strategy involves hitting at least four big-box stores in an order that meets her desires during that year and combining that with online purchases and online coupons.

However, she noted, there are "catches" to the online experience that she was hesitant to reveal because she didn't want increased competition.

While Black Friday may not be as critical as it has been in the past -- during the past decade, the Saturday before Christmas was often the busiest shopping day of the holiday season -- this year's day after Thanksgiving could serve as a good indication for the health of the rest of the shopping season, he said.

The National Retail Federation expects that up to 128 million people will shop this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. More than 147 million people hit the stores during last year's Black Friday weekend, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association reported.

"Black Friday went from being a commercial retail day to now a discount door-buster specials day," said the NPD Group's Cohen. "When that happened, the dynamic of Black Friday no longer became the art of shopping, but rather the sport of shopping."

The "sport shoppers" still will line up outside of retailers to get the touted deals on big-screen TVs and laptops, but the more "typical shoppers," might wait it out a bit and see if the deals will get better, something that Cohen expects could be a possibility the week before Christmas.

Retailers don't appear to have given up on Black Friday, which this year actually is projected by ShopperTrak to be the busiest shopping day of the season.

According to the leaked Best Buy ad that was displayed on BFads.net, the yellow-tagged retailer is touting deals such as a 32-inch LCD, flat-screen, high-definition TV for $399.99, $150 off its regular price.

Apple, a retailer more known for not putting its popular iPods and gadgets on sale, on Tuesday put out an e-mail with the subject line "This Friday: Our biggest shopping event of the year." The Black Friday teaser said little more other than to check back Friday for a "special one-day-only holiday shopping event."

Some smaller retailers are offering Black Friday special promotions, for the first time. Body products company Lush, for example, has a promotion that for every $40 spent, customers can get any product that's $10 or less for free.

At Twenty Ninth Street mall in Boulder, more holiday sale signs seem to be appearing in tenants' windows, said Lori Giggey, marketing manager for the 2-year-old retail district.

"We definitely think that the shoppers themselves are going to be a little more strategic, but we do expect them to come out," she said.

To help put shoppers in the holiday spirit, Twenty Ninth Street officials on Saturday are launching the "Miracle on 29th Street" celebration, which includes a variety of activities such as a tree-lighting ceremony, horse-drawn carriage rides, carolers, reindeer and Santa photos in Macy's.

The Twin Peaks Mall, Longmont's indoor shopping center, is taking some similar actions over the next month -- including the display of a 20-foot red, white and blue Christmas tree, musical performers, the running of the Twin Peaks Express train, having coupon books for customers, leading the holiday parade, among others -- as a way to have Longmont residents "think local" this year.

"The money that is going to be spent is not as large, perhaps as it has been in the past," said Sandra O'Clock, Twin Peaks' general manager. "We're all trying to compete for what dollars are out there."

Contact Camera Business Writer Alicia Wallace at 303-473-1332 or wallacea@dailycamera.com.