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GREENSBORO - The shopping crowds were as large and ravenous this Christmas Eve as they've ever been. But many who braved the pushing, shoving, occasionally shouting masses at local shopping centers said it wasn't because they had procrastinated. With the economy tanking, they said they waited to try and save some money.

"It seems like a crazy thing to wait this long," said Emma Peters , 34, of Greensboro. "But I guess I was trying to postpone the pain of having to actually buy anything. And it seemed like the closer it came to the holidays, the more stores were marking things down to get people to shop.

"They were panicking too. So I was trying to take advantage of that."

So how did she do? Not bad.

At the Target on Lawndale Drive , Peters found racks of marked-down designer clothes for her two middle-school-age daughters. She bought sweaters, jackets, jeans and shoes -some slashed to a third of their original prices.

"These huge clearance racks weren't here a month ago, or even a few weeks," Peters said. "But as the stores worry more about people not shopping as much, they're marking down. If you waited like I did, the lines are longer, but you can really save money."

Shoppers like Peters have the big chain stores over a barrel as huge markdowns to move excess stock have become the norm this season. But most forecasts predict the strategy won't make this Christmas look anything like last year's for retailers - and there could be worse news coming.

Shoppers shunned gift cards this season, which means they are less likely to return to the stores after the holiday.

"The new consumer mantra for this coming year is: 'If I don't need it, I won't buy it,' " said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group. "America has been going from a consuming society to a planned-buying society. Everything is focused on saving more money," Beemer said.

The retail industry could be looking at its biggest contraction in 35 years, according to Burt P. Flickinger, III, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.

He estimates 160,000 stores will have closed by the end of 2008 and predicts an additional 200,000 will close next year. In March and April, Flickinger expects 2,000 to 3,000 malls to close.

Several stores struggled just to make it to Christmas. Circuit City stores filed for bankruptcy protection last month. It plans to keep operating, but KB Toys, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, has already begun to liquidate all of its stores and will shut down completely.

Linens-N-Things is another chain closing its doors - and the store off of Wendover Avenue resembled a battlefield on Christmas Eve, the remaining marked-down products strewn everywhere, piles of discounted towels and bedsheets stacked in great heaps as customers picked over what was left.

Robert and Maria Castaneda saw the going-out-of-business sign and decided to stop after a trip to Target and Macy's in the same shopping center.

The deals were good enough for them to pick up extra stocking-stuffers.

"We're finding pots, pans and towel sets that we wouldn't have been able to afford a few months ago marked down to what you'd pay at K-mart," said Robert Castaneda, 52. "We're going to go ahead and pick up some of these things while they still have them and make last-minute gifts out of them."

At the Wal-Mart on Wendover Avenue, some shoppers said they weren't sure the savings were worth the trouble.

"I stood in line to buy presents for over half an hour," said Tony Merkin, 26 . "I parked like a football-field length from the store and then came in here, and it's shoulder-to-shoulder the whole time, then you wait a half-hour in the line. And it's not like I saved that much. I mean, it's Wal-Mart. It's not like things are that expensive to begin with."

So why did he wait so long?

"Honestly," Merkin said. "I guess I just put it off, hoping things would get better financially, hoping something would happen to fix all the problems. But it didn't happen this year."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian @news-record.com