For years, the Friday following Thanksgiving has marked the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season.

But with recent proclamations of economic gloom and doom coming from Wall Street, many local retailers are hoping “Black Friday” helps keep them in the black, as shoppers turn out in hordes to get early Christmas bargains.

“Black Friday is always our biggest (sales) day of the year — no doubt,” said Gary Miles, store manager, JCPenney, Claremore. “It’s safe to say that the weeks before Christmas, we sell as much if not more than we do any other six months out of the year.”

Miles said JCPenney has been gearing up for Black Friday and the weeks of Christmas shopping that follow for months, building an inventory ready to meet the needs of customers out to find that perfect Christmas present.

“We’ll be opening at 4 a.m. Friday which sounds early, but believe it or not, every year when we open early the day after Thanksgiving, we have hundreds of people outside, waiting to get in to get the early bargains,” he said. “We’re hoping they’ll be back this year because we’ll be ready for them.”

Donna Toothman is another retailer counting on Black Friday shoppers to give her store a huge boost in sales.

“Really, we haven’t been as impacted by the lagging economy as other stores have, but our after-Thanksgiving Day sales are our biggest (sales) weeks of the year,” said Toothman, store manager of Stage in Claremore. “We’re hoping it (the economy) doesn’t hinder people from coming out and coming out early to catch bargains.”

Both Toothman and Miles said their stores are offering extra incentives in the form of specials and free gifts to “early bird” customers.

“Business usually stays consistently busy through the Christmas season but the first few customers who come out Friday will get a free Disney snow globe as well as a $10 bounceback coupon,” Miles said.

Although Wal-Mart Super Center — arguably one of Claremore’s largest retailers — is open 24 hours a day, store manager Lindell Stephens said the advertised Christmas specials become available at 5 a.m. Friday.

“People definitely show up early — they want to get in on the deals while our items are in stock,” Stephens said. “If you’ve never been here on the day after Thanksgiving ... it’s something you’ll never forget.”

While Stephens said sales at Wal-Mart have been steady in recent months, he — like other Claremore and Rogers County retailers — is hoping for a strong Christmas season.

“With the way the economy has been lately, you can’t blame people for wanting to make their dollars stretch as far as they can,” he said. “People have always come out early to catch the sales, and with money being tighter for some families than it has been in recent years, we expect even more people will come out to see what kind of sales they can find.”

Stephens, who “survived” the Cabbage Patch and Furby crazes of Christmases past, said he expects toys and electronics to be big sellers this season.

So, while some Rogers Countians may be sleeping off turkey dinner Friday morning, others will be hitting the stores early for extra discounts — a money-saving strategy that’s perhaps more necessary than ever in an uncertain economic climate.