with bargain hunters. that's right, serious shoppers are out in force this morning, snapping up black friday deals at some of the nation's biggest retailers, and this year, the official holiday shopping season actually kicked off even earlier with some stores offering deep discounts thursday night. nbc's janel klein is in new york city for us this morning. janel, these people are like late to the game, at 5:00 in the morning. it's like, you know, people have been out there for hours. >> reporter: they're pretty serious about this, lynn, and like you said, a lot of stores opening last night, so many people went straight from thanksgiving dinner right to the shopping mall. many stores doing this for the very first time, and that is just one sign that the rush to lure black friday shoppers is more intense than ever. bargains are on, and so is the bedlam. one in four americans are shopping today with high stakes and low prices. >> black friday is the beginning of the season, it's a huge day across the country. and for many retailers, they are