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Retailers across the U.S. opened their doors early Friday morning and discounted merchandise as much as 70 percent on the day after Thanksgiving to entice customers during what some say could be the worst holiday shopping season in six years. According to the Bloomberg News, people may spend an average of $616 on holiday gifts this year, down 29 percent from a year earlier, according to a Gallup Inc. poll. Consumer spending makes up more than two- thirds of the U.S. economy, which has dropped into a recession amid declining consumer confidence and rising unemployment. A worker was trampled by customers and killed at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location in Long Island, New York, according to local police and the company. At least four shoppers were hurt at the store in Valley Stream, located about 13 miles from New York City, Nassau County Police said in a statement. The Desert Sun said two groups of people shopping at a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert got into an argument and two men pulled guns and shot each other inside the Desert Crossing Shopping Center. Both died at the scene. The Sun reported that people ran and hid behind toy displays and clothes racks. Retailers promote doorbuster deals to attract customers on Black Friday, said to be when retailers started to make their annual profit, having paid off their costs from sales earlier in the year. The sales generally attract many bargain hunters.
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