In the LA suburb of Glendale, shoppers who didn't make it to the 1.5-million-sf Glendale Galleria early on Friday or Saturday had to wait several minutes just to get into the parking structure and begin their hunt for a parking space. Once inside the mall, they had to snake their way through thousands of fellow shoppers—many of them already loaded down with big shopping bags and boxes of presents.

Foot traffic at the mall was up 8% on Friday compared to a year earlier, Glendale Galleria marketing exec Annette Bethers says. It was up an even stronger 10% on Saturday, she adds.

Many Kmart stores opened early on Thanksgiving Day, and stayed open around-the-clock until late Sunday evening. Dozens and sometimes even hundreds of people lined up outside several big-box retailers—including Target, Circuit City and Best Buy—well before the stores opened on Friday morning, and again on Saturday.