Sales spell a happy haul-iday.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

It was cheap computers that lured the Pillow family of Cottage Grove into Friday's predawn launch of the 2005 Christmas shopping season. Six hours later, they were scouring a picked-over selection of dress shirts at J.C. Penney, looking for bargains.

Jeanette and Kevin Pillow and their daughter, Jennifer, joined a horde of local shoppers chasing what is expected to be the theme of this year's holiday gift-buying season: extreme markdowns on selected items by retailers hoping to make their profits on secondary sales.

"But they were out of stock on a lot of things," Jeanette Pillow said as her daughter sat on the floor at the Penney store. "There were a lot of come-on prices, I think."

The Pillows started their day at 5 a.m. with a divide-and-conquer strategy, each parent standing in line at a different electronics store in hopes of scoring one of a limited inventory of bargain computers. One store offered them for $150, the other for $250.

Both were sold out by the time the Pillows' turns came.

But like other early season shoppers, they managed to keep their mission on track despite a missed bargain or two. By 11 a.m., they had run a retail gantlet from Springfield's Gateway Mall to Eugene's Valley River Center, and had their Christmas lists nearly filled.

"We hit it all," Jeanette Pillow said. "And now we're almost done."

Retailers, concerned that high gasoline prices and household heating bills may affect consumers' willingness to spend on Christmas gifts, began announcing their steep-discounting promotions nearly a month ago.

On Friday, merchants saw hopeful signs that consumer spending nationwide will be lively for the holidays.

Several major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Macy's, as well as mall operator Taubman Centers Inc., estimated they drew bigger crowds nationally than compared with last year.

Wal-Mart opened its stores at 5 a.m. nationwide on Friday - an hour earlier than last year - and offered early bird specials until 11 a.m. The world's largest retailer also offered to match any competitors' prices to win holiday sales.

Target was among the retailers offering deep discounts on selected items, while department stores such as Macy's and Sears offered free gift cards in addition to sale prices.

"There are bargains," said Gayla Hartman of North Bend, after buying a coat for 60 percent off its regular price at the Valley River Penney's. "But I'm also a saver. I've been saving (for the holidays) for three or four months."

Hartman, who considers herself a fairly astute holiday shopper, said that there aren't necessarily more bargains out there than in recent years, "but it depends on what you buy." Electronics seem to have generally slipped in price, she said.

Valley River's shopping season got off to a quick start, with the parking lot nearly full by 7:30 a.m.

The heavily advertised doorbuster specials - with discounts of 40 percent, 50 percent and 60 percent off many items - helped lure some shoppers away from the discount stores.

Scraps of conversation in English and Spanish floated over the jammed aisles of Penney's:

"I got a $10 gift card at Sears, and then I used it to buy my sister a pair of boots."

"Hurry up, we've only got until noon."

"Let's split up, we've still got six more stores to hit."

Shoppers with their arms full of shirts, sweaters and other gifts were lined up at least 20 deep at cash registers while a cadre of store employees wearing red and white Penney's T-shirts scurried back and forth, straightening pillaged shelves and racks and maintaining order in the lines.

Managers of both the Valley River and Gateway malls said that they were pleased by Friday's official launch of the holiday shopping season, with most of their stores reporting higher sales volumes than projected.

"There was no drop-off today, it was just constant," said Don Foster, the general manager at Valley River. "I think it's about as good as we're entitled to expect."

By the way, Foster said, the Duck Shop - home of University of Oregon athletic apparel - seemed to be drawing even more fervent crowds than the big stores.

"I'd call it standing-room-only, but you can't get in there," he said.

At Gateway, general manager Ron Glover said that many of the mall's stores already had met their goals for the day by early afternoon.

"I'm not at liberty to divulge specific numbers, but the majority of our tenants have reported a significant increase in both (foot) traffic and sales," he said.

Glover said that the early announcements of holiday promotions have had shoppers gearing up at his mall for several weeks, with sales increasing throughout the fall. And, in conversations with shoppers on Friday, the deeply discounted items seemed to have been a big factor for many.

"A lot of the time, we're seeing those discounts being the main point of purchase, along with other merchandise," Glover said. "So I think there's a successful formula in place - at least we're seeing it today."

In the Wal-Mart store on Green Acres Road in Eugene, sisters Katie Reinsch and Tina Walling of Springfield had their baskets piled high with gifts.

Despite the rising fuel and heating prices, they expect to spend more this year on the holidays.

"It seems like each year we spend a little more, and as the kids get older they want bigger presents," Walling said.

The pair spent several hours shopping on Friday but planned to be back at it today.

"We're kidnapping another girlfriend and heading for Portland," Walling said. "That's going to be even scarier."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

CAPTION(S):

Melissa Skinner of Eugene (left) and Gayla Hartman of North Bend join other shoppers waiting for an open checkout stand Friday at J.C. Penney at Valley River Center. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Exhausted after a busy morning of shopping, Jennifer Pillow does her shopping sitting down during a trip to J.C. Penney with her mother, Jeanette Pillow, on the traditional post-Thanksgiving shopping day. Shoppers navigate Valley River Center on Friday as steep discounts, enticing rebates and expanded hours drew hordes to retailing meccas Friday. Nationally, merchants saw hopeful signs that consumer spending will be lively for the holidays. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard