IT’S BLACK FRIDAY!

The hol­i­day shop­ping sea­son got under­way for many yes­ter­day at the same time many oth­ers were enjoy­ing their tra­di­tional Thanks­giv­ing feast.

This year, more retail­ers kicked off the hol­i­day shop­ping sea­son on Thanks­giv­ing Day instead of Black Fri­day, in hopes of get­ting a head-start on the lucritive hol­i­day dol­lars.

Accord­ing to a national sur­vey ear­lier this week, approx­i­mately 140 mil­lion peo­ple said planned to shop some­time Thurs­day through Sun­day. Of that 140 mil­lion, 33 mil­lion planned to go out yestereay, Thanks­giv­ing Day.

Kohl’s, JCPen­ney, Sears, Elder-Beerman and Dun­hams opened at 8 last night.

Store man­agers and offi­cials say they are expect­ing large hol­i­day crowds today, Black Fri­day, and through­out the weekend.