Bargain hunters take aim at prices.

Byline: DIANE DIETZ The Register-Guard

Carole and Tom Endersby made their first-ever day-after-Thanksgiving shopping trip on Friday.

The West 11th Target store reeled them in with the promise of 49-cent Hot Wheels cars, a price that's about half what Carole was expecting to pay.

"It's a tight year for everybody, and it makes sense to find bargains," Carole said while Tom stowed the low-priced loot in the trunk of the couple's BMW.

More and more people will be bargain hunting this Christmas season because of worries about the economy and the threat of war with Iraq, retail analysts say.

"Big-box" discount stores went all out to capture tight-fisted shoppers with sales beginning as early as 5 a.m., deeply discounted feature items, and gaily-colored signs wishing shoppers a "Merry Savings."

Seasoned bargain hunters in the Eugene-Springfield area responded in the pre-dawn hours Friday. They crowded the entryways of the Kmart, Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer stores. They carried carefully mapped itineraries of six or eight stores they planned to visit by lunchtime, and a list of specific items they meant to pick up.

Halsey resident Teddi Gibson, who called herself the "queen of bargains," began her shopping day at 5 a.m. at Kmart, where she snagged a $50 Knightsbridge black leather jacket for her fiance.

She had seen similar leather coats for $300 or $400 and had waited for more than three months to find the right price.

She was after a pair of Urban Rider running shoes (they convert into in-line skates) for $13 at Target and a Playstation 2 for $250 at Costco, which was $20 to $50 less than she could find anywhere else.

"I'm not an impulse shopper," she said. "I don't go out and drop a bunch of money."

Her second-to-last stop was the Gateway Mall Dollar Store, which she said is the best place for tape, bows and wrapping paper. And, finally, she planned to end her morning's effort at the HomeTown Buffet, where she would put her feet up and enjoy a $6.69 lunch.

The precision shoppers want what they want when they want it, at the price they want, and they aren't deterred if they have a little trouble getting it.

Pacific University student Theresa Haley found a half-price karaoke machine at Circuit City and later found a similar model at Target for $11 less. She bought the second one and returned the first.

Millworker Brian Miller had his eye on a 13-inch Apex color television set at Circuit City for less than $50. He went to Wal-Mart to compare prices, and by the time he got back the model was gone - so he decided not to "burn money on a TV" at all.

A second species of bargain hunter also was out Friday. They're more treasure hunter than list maker - unsure what they're after but confident that they'll know it when they see it. They're so into price that they're apt to look at the tag before the merchandise.

Laurie Bullard, an accountant, ended her daylong shopping circuit at Valley River Center, but earlier in the day she had purchased a 27-inch television at Wal-Mart because of its astounding $148 price tag.

"We see what kind of deal you can get whether you needed it or not," she quipped.

The large-screen television, she decided, was just the thing to upgrade a certain family member's 19-inch set for Christmas.

Brianne Mause, a hotel front desk associate, also took a serendipitous approach to bargain hunting.

"I came to get whatever," she said Friday, after a turn through the Green Acres Road Wal-Mart store. "I was going for anything that happened to be there."

Her find? Rimmel perfume at $12.87 for a 1-ounce bottle.

Waitress Andrea Strickland thought she was done shopping for the day when she spied a $9.99 globe at Kmart, which was just the thing for her 6-year-old daughter.

She sent her husband and the child out to the car, bought the globe and then smuggled it to the trunk disguised by a garbage bag. "We did good this year - got a lot of good deals," she said.

A third variety of shopper - the accidental bargain finders - also were out in force.

Price was not their prime motive, but when they found an attractive price they couldn't help but open their pocketbooks and wallets.

Day care provider Karen Klabo said she normally would have bought four green-and-gold University of Oregon bath towels at J.C. Penney, but they were $4.99 each so she bought eight.

Secretary Sandie Gomes couldn't resist the half-off PointZero men's sweaters at Emporium, so she bought one, and then another two plus a third.

Shopper Donna Cicero, meanwhile, was so pleased with the $30 Timberline T-shirts she got for $11 each that she bought four.

The shoppers' only challenge was figuring out who to give their multiplying gifts to. Let's see, Cicero said, "One for my son, one for my dad, one for my boyfriend and one for my brother."