SAN MARCOS -- Nate Greene thought getting in line at 12 a.m. Friday would be early enough to secure one of the five, 50-inch plasma television sets advertised by Wal-Mart as a "Black Friday" special. But in the end, the Escondido 17-year-old was too far back in line and he had to settle for a 32-inch, liquid-crystal display television instead.

"They ran out before we entered the store," he said. The doors opened at 5 a.m. for about 1,000 people waiting in line. Starbucks, a few stores down from the Wal-Mart, opened at 3 a.m. to give customers something warm to help brave the chilly morning weather.

Thousands of North County shoppers packed stores, shopping centers and malls Friday, marking the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Retailers call it "Black Friday" because it's the day many stores become profitable. Traditional accounting practices would list a company's profits in black ink and losses in red. High volume sales during the day make a possibly unprofitable year profitable for many companies, changing their financial accounts from red ink to black.

The promise of low prices and specials led hundreds to wait in lines for other predawn store openings.

Shoppers stuffed the Westfield Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad when it opened at 8 a.m. to take advantage of early morning sales specials.

Sheila Golding from Oceanside said she started shopping at 6 a.m. with trips to Mervyns and Target before coming to the mall. Her husband, Ray, stood next to her with four large bags from three different stores, as she explained why she liked shopping on Black Friday.

"Prices are better," she said. "If you know what you are looking for, it is worth it to come out."

Avis Tolliver, 32, from Oceanside said he decided to shop today out of boredom, but wishes he would have picked a better day.

"It's a bad day to be out because there are too many people," he said.

Some malls, such as Carlsbad Premium Outlets and Lake Elsinore Outlets, got a jump of several hours on other retailers by opening stores at 12 a.m. Friday.

Michele Rothstein, spokeswoman for Chelsea Property Group, which own and operates of the Carlsbad outlet mall, said the "Midnight Madness" promotion was a hit with shoppers.

"Since this was our second year hosting Midnight Madness," she said, "many shoppers knew what to expect and came out extra early. By 9:30 p.m., we had thousands of shoppers on site ready to patiently wait on line for their favorite stores to open. We've had great crowds of upbeat shoppers -- so far, we're very pleased to the start of the season."

Retailers are predicting good cheer from this year's holiday spending. The National Retail Federation, based in Washington, D.C., projects the average American consumer will spend about $790 this year, a 7 percent increase from the $738 spent last year. The organization expects total holiday spending to increase 5 percent, to $457.4 billion, this year.

Nationally, Black Friday is "becoming the biggest sport," said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y. retail research firm. He observed that shoppers this year bought fewer, but pricier items than a year ago.

The biggest draws were consumer electronics, particularly flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and digital cameras. Toys fared well too. In addition to the hard-to-find Fisher-Price TMX Elmo, shoppers snapped up other items like anything Dora, robot toys, Fisher-Price's Kids Tough Digital Camera and Jakks-Pacific FlyWheel XPV, according to toy merchants.

In the midst of potential shopping madness this year, North County shoppers are advised to pay particular attention to prices and receipts. Automated price scanning mistakes cost San Diego County customers more than $87 million last year, according to the county's sealer of weights and measures, Robert Atkins. Shoppers are advised to verify their receipts and notify store management of any price discrepancies.

Before they could check their receipts, many customers braved long lines again inside stores for products as well as outside them. At the Best Buy store in San Marcos, customers were told it was a two-hour wait just to buy products. The Disney store in the Westfield Plaza Camino Real had a line extending past other stores as customers waited for shopping specials.

Before 6 a.m., Sandra Brooks had bought presents for all 32 people on her list, including every student in her son's fifth-grade class, for just $191. She has been seeking predawn savings during Black Friday for seven years. She said that this year, Wal-Mart was far more organized than her first experience.

"It was a zoo," said the 37-year-old San Marcos resident, of her first time. "People were yanking things out of people's hand, there were fistfights, and people were smashing into each other with their carts."

Mike Soto, 17, from Escondido, and three of his friends left their Thanksgiving dinner tables at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to sleep outside the GameStop store in San Marcos before the store opened Friday morning. He couldn't wait to buy one of the store's five Nintendo Wii game machines.

"We feasted out and then came here," he said.

But shoppers weren't the only ones out for Black Friday. Santa Claus made an appearance at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real to take pictures with children.

Heidi Strona said she thought it was great that Santa could take time out of his busy schedule to have his picture taken with her 5-year-old daughter, Samantha.

"I'm glad he got a chance to take a break and visit with the kids," she said. "He must be so busy working at the North Pole right now."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact staff writer Patrick Wright at (760) 739-6675 or pwright@nctimes.com.