Bargain shoppers, braving rain or frigid weather, crowded the nation’s stores and malls in the wee hours of the night to get their hands on deals from TVs to toys on Black Friday.

In a bid to grab shoppers earlier on the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, a number of stores including Old Navy, Toys R Us and Sears opened on Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday. Toys R Us was counting on getting an extra boost by opening 24 hours straight, starting at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Patricia Lopez, 32, a receptionist from Queens, N.Y., was in line at Toys R Us in New York’s Times Square Thursday night. The earlier hours were an enticement.

“I thought, good, we’ll come here and I won’t have to go tomorrow.” But she still planned to get up at 6 to hit more sales. Lopez said she feels better about her finances.

“The economy got people a little scared so they started to save,” she said. “I think I feel a little better this year than last year. I had just started with my job but now I’m more advanced. I feel a little better now.”

Diehards started lining up at the Target department store on Chicago’s North side at 10 p.m. Thursday, and by the time doors opened at 4, the line was almost 600 people deep.

In an encouraging sign for retailers, lots of people said they were buying gifts for themselves.

“I would not go out in the cold for family,” joked Kat Reyngold, 35, who wanted a 40-inch Westinghouse TV on sale for $299.

Bad weather, however, could put a damper on sales. Rain was falling or threatening much of the East Coast, and early morning temperatures were in the teens and 20s throughout the Midwest and mountain states, according to the National Weather Service.

The fierce battle for shoppers’ wallets promises savings for those willing and able to buy amid an economy that’s still worrying many.

The good news is that retailers are heading into the season with some momentum after a solid start to November. Shoppers who can afford it are buying more nonessentials, like jewelry and luxury goods. That’s helping to lift their spirits about the holiday season, which is expected to generate revenue gains modestly higher than a year ago.

Still, with 15 million unemployed and concerns about job security clouding consumer confidence, spending hasn’t returned to prerecession levels.

Many stores pushed more exclusive deals online on Thursday in a bid to rope in shoppers before Black Friday. It apparently worked. According to IBM’s Coremetrics, online sales soared 33 percent on the holiday compared with Thanksgiving 2009.

And the average order was $182.74, up from $159.81 on last year’s Thanksgiving Day.