Long lines on biggest US shopping day

The Friday after Thanksgiving marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season in the US. Known as "Black Friday", stores offer huge bargains, as eager buyers fill the streets for the busiest shopping day of the year.

Black Friday sales shoppers line up outside a Best Buy electronics store in Falls Church, Virginia , November 27, 2009. Americans headed to department stores in droves in the dead of night on Friday to kick off the holiday shopping season, though many said they had pared back how much they would spend on family members and on themselves. Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, is often the single busiest shopping day of the crucial holiday season, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the retail industry's annual sales. REUTERS/Jim Young

Some shoppers braved the cold and started lining up outside stores on Thursday night.

At a large department store in Washington, DC, an orderly stream of shoppers surged through the doors and quickly made a sprint for the numerous items on sale.

Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren said, "Black Friday is very important. It's really the start of the shopping season for retailers in America. So, so far, so good. Over five thousand people outside of Macy's Herald Square this morning, which is slightly more than we had last year at this time."