Holiday deal search draws millions to stores

Irene Qu, a 22-year-old graduate student atNortheastern University, was shopping yesterday morning at the Prudential Center in Boston. Qu, who is from China, said she was underwhelmed by her first Black Friday experience. "The deals were not as much as I was thinking," Qu said while sitting at a food court with a group of friends. Yet the lack of sales didn't stop her from making purchases. She bought make-up for herself as well as a few gifts at Sephora, Bloomberg reports. The National Retail Federation has forecast that about 140 million shoppers would hit the stores or shop online yesterday through Sunday. The rush kicks off a holiday season that the NRF projects to be the best in three years, helped by falling unemployment, rising wages and lower gas prices. The day wasn't without some conflict, though. Demonstrators protesting a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black teenager attempted to disrupt shopping from New York to San Francisco. Some of the protests led to brief faceoffs with police at shops and malls. In San Francisco, demonstrators at an Oakland station of Bay Area Rapid Transit shut down transbay service in and out of the city, the transit system said on its website. About 1,600 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) locations were targeted by activists calling on the retailer to pay workers at least $15 per hour and let them work full time, according to OUR Walmart, a union-backed group of employees. Protests occurred at locations in Los Angeles, Washington, Denver and Albuquerque, New Mexico, said the group, which has demonstrated on Black Friday for three straight years. Raed more