Thousands of shoppers lined up at Macy’s, Best Buy and other stores nationwide to buy everything from toys to tablets on Black Friday despite the economic downturn and some planned protests of the shopping holiday.

Some stores had crowds rushing in when they opened their doors at midnight — several hours earlier than they normally do on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. A few that opened on Thanksgiving Day even were filled with shoppers.

About 600 shoppers were in line at a Target store in Brooklyn in New York when it opened at midnight. By the time it opened at midnight, nearly 2,000 shoppers wrapped around a Best Buy store in St. Petersburg, Fla. And more than 9,000 people were outside the flagship Macy’s store in New York’s Herald Square at its midnight opening.

“I came here for the deals,” said Sidiki Traore, 59, from Roosevelt Island, N.Y. who bought three shirts for $50 at the Macy’s. He also went to Toys R Us for its 9 p.m. opening on Thanksgiving and bought three toys for $106 for his four-year-old son.

A record number of shoppers could head to stores across the country to take advantage of deals of up to 70 percent during the kickoff to the holiday shopping weekend. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected to shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s good news for retailers, many of which depend on the busy holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue.

“It’s the literal, physical and emotional start to a very big period for us,” said Mike Vitelli, Best Buy’s president.

To draw in crowds, merchants pulled out of their bag of tricks. Some offered to match the prices of competitors and rolled out layaway programs. Others like Best Buy, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target and Kohl’s opened at midnight. The Gap and Toys R Us even opened stores on Thanksgiving.

“It’s a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money,” says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

The early store openings caused some backlash. Some employees at stores that were planning to open early signed online protests to get retailers to change their minds. Some shoppers also signed the online petition.

Still, about 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. And more people already are shopping online. By midday on Thanksgiving, online sales were 20 percent over results from the same period a year ago, according to data from IBM Coremetrics.

Black Friday shoppers say they were lured by the deals.

The Gap, for instance, is offering discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items. Old Navy has pea coats for $29 and jeans for $15. Toys R Us is selling a Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime action figure for $30 off at $47.99 and a Power Wheels Barbie vehicle for $120 off at $199.99. Best Buy has a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99.