Cars filled parking spaces outside the Pony Village Mall in North Bend before the sun had a chance to rise Friday morning. Thousands of shoppers descended on local stores taking advantage of early morning specials the day after Thanksgiving. - World Photo by Lou Sennick

NEW YORK - Maybe it was the deep discounts, maybe it was the colder weather and maybe it was just for the sport of it. Whatever it was, shoppers gave retailers something they were hoping for — a solid official start to the Christmas shopping season.

Now all that merchants, and the economy, need is for shoppers to maintain Black Friday’s frenzied buying pace from now until Dec. 25.

It’s a steep challenge. Consumers have been battered by a slew of problems: slumping home values, tighter credit and rising gas prices, among them. Those haven’t gone away.

But aggressive tactics — bigger discounts and expanded hours like midnight openings— apparently worked. Based on early reports, Macy’s, Inc., Toys “R” Us, K-B Toys Inc. and others that were noisy with discounts reported bigger crowds for the early morning bargains than a year ago. And electronic gadgets, particularly the hard-to-find Nintendo Wii, topped shoppers’ wish lists, though frustrations were high among shoppers who couldn’t get their hands on the limited bargains.

“I’m really looking for the bargains this year because I’m losing my job; they’re moving our plant to Mexico after the first of the year, so I have to be careful,” Tina Dillow of New Richmond, Ohio, who camped out at a Best Buy store near Cincinnati at 3 a.m. because of a great deal on a laptop. But she ended up empty handed.

“I stood in line until they finally let us in about 20 after 5, but I was really disappointed because I didn’t get one,” Dillow said.

C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, said that tougher economic conditions are driving more shoppers to take advantage of early bird specials. “There were more bargain hunters this year,” he added.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry expert at NPD Group Inc. agreed, but he noted shoppers were buying selectively. Overall, the biggest draws were consumer electronics, including flat-screen TVs, digital cameras, digital frames and laptops. In toys, which have been battered by recalls of a slew of lead tainted Chinese toys, there were plenty of hits including video games such as Activision Inc.’s “Guitar Hero III,” toys related to Walt Disney Co.’s “Hannah Montana” and Smart Cycle from Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price, toy executives said.

Janet Hoffman, managing partner of the North American retail division of the consulting firm Accenture, believes that some parents, concerned about toy safety, may shift their purchases away from toys to video games and children’s clothing. She added that sales of children’s clothing fared unusually well Friday.

And while mainstream department stores such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney Co., which hammered shoppers with big discounts Friday, seemed to pull in the crowds, traffic at mall-based apparel stores was disappointing, according to Wachovia Capital Markets LLC analyst John D. Morris. One problem is that there aren’t a lot of must-have fashions.

Macy’s chief executive, Terry Lundgren, said that 3,000 people started lining up at the Herald Square store at 5 a.m, forcing the store to open at 5:30 a.m., half hour earlier. That was up from about 2,500 people a year ago. Among some of the most popular early morning deals were Martha Stewart faux holiday trees, that were 50 percent off, and outerwear and sweaters, which were marked down by 40 percent to 50 percent.

“We all know that September and October were not great months, so there is some pent-up demand,” Lundgren said. “We feel encouraged by the early signs.”

Recognizing a potentially tough shopping season ahead, stores began discounting weeks ago, with such gimmicks as door busters and expanded hours. Merchants that cater to middle and lower income shoppers have suffered as consumers struggle with higher gas and food prices as well as a slumping housing market.

While Black Friday is expected to be the busiest day of the season, it’s not a predictor of how retailers will fare in the season overall. In fact, the weekend only accounts for about 10 percent of overall holiday sales. But it does set the tone since what consumers see that day influences where they will shop for the rest of the year.