Parents, teens, tweens, and everyone in between were out in droves Friday for the annual post Thanksgiving shopping extravaganza, better known as Black Friday.

Black Friday is a term used to refer to the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the official holiday shopping season. It is supposed to be the day in which retailers go from being in the red, posting a loss on the books; to being in the black, turning a profit.

Retailers were unsure about how they would fare this year, in the wake of the country’s economic crisis.

“It seems like there are more people than last year, but they are spending less,” Ruby Defusco, owner of Bear Village in the Warwick Mall said Friday.

The National Retail Federation reported yesterday that 195 million shoppers visited stores and web sites, up from 172 million last year. However, average spending over the weekend dropped to $343 per person from $372 a year ago.

Local retailers noted that while the Warwick Mall was extremely busy, they were just happy to stay on pace with last year’s numbers.

“It’s never going to be what it used to be, we are adjusting to the new ‘good’,” said Wicks ‘n Sticks owner Kathleen Krikorian.

Chain retailers such as The Disney Store and Old Navy opened even earlier this year, in hopes of appealing to the voraciously eager bargain shoppers.

“It was crazy here at midnight and we beat last years numbers by a considerable amount,” said Andrea Couture, Disney Store manager.

Disney had teapots on sale for $10 and princess dolls for $20, while Old Navy lured customers in with buy two get one free collectible t-shirts.

“We expect to be steady from now right through Christmas,” said Couture.

Aeropostale boasted discounts of 50-70 percent and ran door buster specials for those people excited enough to be there bright and early.

“I always come for one particular item and map out the rest of the day accordingly,” said East Greenwich resident, Sherry Tulesta.

The hot ticket items for customers this season were flat screen TVs and the LeapFrog learning system. Customers began lining up at Best Buy as early as 2:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to get their hands on items like a 46” flat screen TV marked down from $2,499.99 to $1,599.99.

“4:30 a.m. on Friday looked like 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon,” said Scott Swift, Director of Security at Warwick Mall.

Mall security noted that while stores such as Target and Macy’s had long lines, there were no significant problems or incidents throughout the day.

“I was in line at 3:30 a.m. and everyone was in such a great mood, talking and joking, even though the weather was terrible,” said Jim Nance, a Warwick resident.

Local retailers and big businesses alike hope that the holiday spending will continue throughout the season. Holiday sales make up for a third of stores’ annual profit and consumer spending makes up more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

Business owners are also dealing with having to staff their stores later on in the season because they cannot afford to pay for unnecessary extra help.

“Normally I would never train someone the week before or the week after Thanksgiving, but I cannot justify paying someone to stand around,” said Krikorian.

With owners being forced to take a more hands-on approach to their business, the retail job-market could dry up even more once the holiday season passes.

In a continuation of the holiday spending weekend, yesterday was Black Friday’s follow-up, Cyber Monday. The term Cyber Monday began back in 2004 when retailers noticed that consumers were returning to work after a long weekend of window-shopping, to use their high-speed Internet connections at the office to shop. In 2005 retailers re-coined the term to announce kickoff for online retailers and shoppers, as well as their need to try and shift all of the leftover stock from Black Friday. The hottest deals for Monday were similar to those on Friday, including TVs and Laptops. Online shipping for most businesses is free with purchase until Dec. 16. While Cyber Monday is a major shopping day, retailers have reported that the biggest online shopping day is the last day in which customers are guaranteed to receive their packages before Christmas.