Black Friday shopping underway across state

Black Friday is underway in Georgia this morning, as retailers hope for a good start to the holiday shopping season, despite the sour economy. Early reports this morning indicate discount chain stores are seeing good traffic. Many malls and stores across Georgia opened their doors at 5am--some stores got the jump on others by unlocking their doors at 4 o’clock this morning.

Kelly Fox is Director of Marketing with the Mall of Georgia in Buford. Fox told GPB this morning the mall's parking lots were around 80-percent full by 8am. Inside the mall, Fox says retailers are doing all they can to entice shoppers their way:

"They're giving great deals. Even before Black Friday...they had a lot of incentives for shoppers to come shop. I've walked the mall, and there has been just some really great deals and bargains to get them in."

Mall of Georgia is the largest in the southeast with just over 200 stores.

Black Friday traffic strong at Mall of Georgia

Retailers hope for a bountiful holiday shopping season, despite consumer worries over gas prices and the housing market. At the largest mall in the southeast, the early returns appear good for retailers on this Black Friday.

Melissa Cahill, marketing director for the Mall of Georgia 40 minutes east of Atlanta, was excited by the early crowds.

"It seems to be much stronger this year. We’ve seen a lot heavier crowds earlier this year than last year".

The facility opened before dawn today, and Cahill says the mall’s parking lots were 75-percent full by 7 o’clock.

Many retailers have been offering special deals to shoppers weeks ahead of today. She gauges the mood of retailers at this mall as good.

"I think pretty optimistic…the traffic has been pretty constant for the last couple of weeks. Everybody’s been looking forward to today, and it looks like it’s panning out very well for us".

Cahill expect strong crowds at the nearly 200-store Mall of Georgia through the weekend.