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GREENSBORO - Black Friday earned its moniker for being the day retailers moved into the black and became profitable for the year.

But after months of bad economic news, this year shoppers seemed to be the ones determined to stay in the black.

Consumers were out in force Friday in Greensboro, and the majority of them had one goal in mind: snagging a bargain.

Susan Bolen , a Black Friday regular, was up before the sun. In Kohl's at 4:15 a.m. - she missed the opening by 15 minutes - she stood in lines that wrapped around the inside of the store for 45 minutes, waiting to check out.

After a trip to Target, she made her way to Walmart, lured by the advertised price on flat-screen televisions, kid's toys and $8 jeans.

She bought five pairs.

"We're really watching the sales," said Bolen, who lives in High Point. "Otherwise you can't get as much."

With the country in one of the worst economic slumps since the 1930s, many shoppers said they were cutting their holiday budgets compared to years past.

Items with the lowest prices were getting intense attention from shoppers. Seeing that the display of $8 jeans had been thoroughly picked over, Bolen said she staked out the discards at the dressing room to find the sizes she wanted.

People crowded around a bin of $5 DVDs at Walmart on Wendover Avenue, and there was a report of shoppers camped out at Circuit City on Wendover, where laptops regularly priced $650 were selling for $399.99 .

Cheryl Huffman found one of the toys she was looking for listed at three prices at three stores. A stay-at-home mom shopping on one income, she chose the cheapest place to purchase.

"It gets tight," Huffman said. "That $5 is very important."

Huffman was tag-teaming with her husband to cover as much ground - and hit as many Black Friday deals - as they could by noon "because that's when a lot of the great sales end," she said.

And like many others, Huffman said she planned to spend less money this Christmas.

"We're cutting back on the adults and focusing on the young ones," she said.

Jyothi Mann knew what she was looking for as she headed into Circuit City: a digital camera at a good price. And that was it.

"I have a list of what we want," she said. "Then we're going home."

Trisha Murry did her homework before hitting the stores, shopping with a handwritten list of stores and prices.

"I'm trying to get the best deal," she said.

By 10 a.m., she had been to most of the stores on her list. But there's a limit to what even the most dedicated bargain hunter can withstand. "Some of the lines were so long, I said, 'Forget it.'"

Contact Lanita Withers at 373-7071 or lanita.withers@news-record.com