Black Friday by the numbers

GRAND CHUTE -
Those looking to spend money made Black Friday a hit for retailers. Thousands lined up outside stores for early morning bargains.. And by the time cash registers stopped ringing at closing time at Target in Grand Chute sales were up.

"We saw a big jump in sales from last year so overall a huge success," said Tyler Lingenhag, executive team mate at Target in Grand Chute.

Nationally retailers saw a similar turnout. ShopperTrak estimates more than 10 and a half billion dollars were spent on Black Friday, a number that was up half a percent from the year before.

At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, shoppers and perhaps even tourists turned out making for a record crowd.

"I've talked to people who have worked at Mall of America for 17 years and they say this is the busiest Black Friday even seen that's a good sign for our economy," said Dan Jasper with Mall of America.

And the spending numbers get better if you include internet sales and even t-v shopping sales.

Those buying online were spending more according to Coremetrics- which tracks online shoppers. The average order was up 35 percent. And QVC a tv shopping channel had black friday sales of $32-million-- up nearly 60 percent over last year.

Many may have ventured out just to find big bargains on Black Friday.

"The lines were twice as long," said Lingenhag.

The holiday shopping season is off to a good start. Stores will work now to keep buyers coming back for more all the way up until Christmas.

"We're hoping that yesterday was a kickoff of a very, very successful rest of November and into December so we're expecting some really great things here," said Lingenhag.

Retail analysts had been projecting holiday sales nationally of $438 billion, that's down slightly from last year's sales.