NEW YORK, Nov 29, (AP): The economic picture hasn't looked very rosy: Hiring has been sluggish. Consumers have been dealing with soaring meat prices. Layoffs are rippling through companies. But despite those concerns, shoppers hit the stores in full strength on Black Friday, with some even sipping champagne as they searched for discounts on the day that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season.

Just outside New Orleans, shoppers flooded Lakeside Shopping Center to see what deals they could find. The mall offers champagne to Black Friday traditionalists while they shop, as long as they have a receipt of at least $50. "Sipping and shopping is the best, so I feel like that’s a New Orleans thing to do” said Lacie Lemoine, who was shopping with her grandmother, an annual tradition they've kept despite the fact that their budgets are shrinking.

"The economy is bad, but you still have to celebrate," said her grandmother, Sandra Lemoine. "Everybody has to do what they can do on their own budget. That’s it.” Both the massive Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, reported strong customer traffic on Friday and said Black Friday would once again rank as their busiest day of the year.

"We are off to a great start,” said Jill Renslow, Mall of America’s chief business development and marketing officer. The line to enter the shopping and entertainment center started forming at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Renslow said. About 14,000 visitors entered within an hour of the mall’s 7 a.m. opening, she said. "We are tracking one of our best Black Fridays ever,” she added.

Many retail executives have reported customers becoming more discerning and increasingly focused on deals while at the same time remaining willing to splurge for important occasions, creating a potential halo effect that might keep financial worries from discouraging holiday shoppers. National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said in early November that consumers tend to wall off holidays, whether religious, secular or bank, from outside concerns.

"It’s a sort of a category of spending that has a moat around it,” Shay said. "Shoppers view them as opportunities for celebration. I think that really captures the way the (winter) holiday season goes. People save for it. They plan for it. They prioritize it.”