MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Amy Alderman (left) and her mother, Sherri Parson, celebrate their shopping conquests at the Belk Department Store in New River Valley Mall

JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Shoppers gaze inside a Target before the store opens its doors at 5 a.m. Friday.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Coffee pots for $3. Pajamas for $5. Sheet sets for $30.

Practicality was on many people's shopping lists on Friday, the day-after-Thanksgiving spending spree called Black Friday. This official start to the holiday season kicked off with the usual all-night camp-outs in front of stores, long lines and 6 a.m. or earlier openings for many big-box retailers and shopping centers in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

Aside from the rush for popular electronics, such as high-definition televisions and digital cameras, many shoppers had their sights on usable purchases.

The National Retail Federation predicted last month that practical gift giving would be a big focus of the 2009 holiday season because of the economy's mounting challenges for many households. According to a survey by the NRF, two-thirds of Americans said the economy would affect their spending this holiday season, with the majority stating that they planned to spend less.

Retailers are taking the hint, and this focus was obvious in some of Friday's doorbuster deals.

Toys R Us offered sales on baby wipes for $5 and Fisher-Price high chairs for $17. Walmart sold $35 Eureka vacuums and $7 fleece jackets.

At Target's store in Roanoke, Jean Roatenberry piled 15 towels, for $1.50 each, into her red shopping cart. She'll give some towels as a gift to her co-worker for Christmas, who requested them.

Roatenberry, who works part time at Sheila's Cafe in downtown Roanoke, said she is asking people what they need this year, rather than buying gifts that may sit in a closet or be returned after the holidays. Usable gifts are driving many of her purchases, mainly because Roatenberry, 63, is on a fixed income. She doesn't want to waste her money on a present that's not useful.

"I think every dollar counts," the Goodview resident said.

Cathy Geiger is being particularly choosy this Christmas when she buys gifts for her six nieces and nephews. Last year, she said she "spoiled" them with video games and other high-dollar presents.

"This year, I'm trying to be a little more practical," said Geiger of Salem.

Geiger, who works for HSN, realizes that times are tough for her brother and sister and their families, who live in Cleveland, Ohio. Her brother started a new job this year, after being out of work for 10 months. Her sister is looking for a full-time job, but she has had to settle for part-time work.

"Money's not what it used to be," Geiger said. "I'm trying to help them out."

She arrived at Target in Roanoke at 2:30 a.m. About an hour after the store's 5 a.m. opening, she waited in line with a shopping cart full of $17 scooters and $5 pajama sets for each niece and nephew. Recently, she laid away sweatsuits and underclothes for them at Kmart.

Ashley Austin bought what she considered a must-have practical gift for herself at Target: a $349 Dyson vacuum. It was originally $549, a price that was too high for her.

Austin needs this superpower vacuum to clean up hair that her yellow Labrador retriever sheds. The discounted vacuum's price was just right, she said.

To be sure, electronics traditionally are hot sellers on Black Friday, and they moved quickly off shelves on Friday. High-definition televisions and laptops were among some of the best sellers on Friday, according to the National Retail Federation.

Doorbuster deals on laptops and digital cameras are the reasons that some people arrived at Best Buy stores in Roanoke and Christiansburg on Thanksgiving Day to be some of the first in line when the doors swung open at 5 a.m. on Friday.

At Best Buy in Christiansburg, Barbara Welker battled the cold weather with three pairs of pants, three shirts, two pairs of socks, a winter coat and a Coleman rainproof jacket. She wasn't prepared for the snow flurries that began falling about 4:15 a.m.

"I'm here for my son ... my baby," Welker said. "He owes me."

Michael Welker, Barbara Welker's son, wanted a Playstation 3. Although they didn't have a voucher to guarantee the purchase, Barbara and Michael Welker later walked out of Best Buy smiling, Playstation 3 in hand.

Unlike Welker, Mallory Leslie of Radford wasn't so lucky. Leslie got in line at Best Buy at 11:45 p.m. Thursday in hopes of getting her hands on a Sony Vaio laptop on sale for $399. While in line, she found out they had all been sold.

"I was so disappointed," she said.

Not everyone who landed an electronics deal on Black Friday purchased it as a gift.

Wilma Barrett of Bedford County and her daughter, Amanda DeHart, were lured unexpectedly by the price of a Blu-ray Disc player at Walmart in Roanoke. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, they each forked over $118 for a player for themselves.

DeHart of Roanoke County said it's hard not to be tempted by the "in-your-face" sales on Black Friday.

"Fifty percent of the time, you end up spending it on yourself," she said.