The Latest: Shoppers look for deals on toys, TVs

NEW YORK (AP) – The Latest on Black Friday (all times local):

6:45 a.m.

As shoppers begin their holiday buying in earnest, some popular items appear to be TVs, electronics and toys like Hatchimals.

Target said in a post on its website that popular deals included several big-screen TVs. In toys, it cited BattleBots and Hatchimals.

Greg Foran, CEO of Walmart’s U.S. division, said Thursday that in the company’s online sales that began just after midnight on Thanksgiving, a broad range of deals from toys to TVs to slow cookers and Google Home mini gadgets took off.

Linda Adair, who was shopping Thursday at a J.C. Penney in Columbia, Missouri, came with her husband from nearby Boonville to buy presents for charity and family, mainly clothing for the couple’s grandchildren. She said in-demand toys include fidget spinners and Hatchimals, although she jokingly said the latter is overpriced and her granddaughter “is not getting one from us.”

5:30 a.m.

A labor union says workers at a half dozen Amazon distribution centers in Germany have walked off the job, the latest in a string of walkouts in a long-running wage dispute with the American online retailer at one of its busiest times.

Ver.di union spokesman Thomas Voss said some 2,500 workers were on strike at Amazon facilities in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg, Werne, Graben and Koblenz in a stoppage timed to coincide with “Black Friday.”

The union’s been pushing since 2013 for higher pay for some 12,000 workers in Germany, arguing Amazon employees receive lower wages than others in retail and mail-order jobs. Amazon says its distribution warehouses in Germany are logistics centers and employees earn relatively high wages for that industry.

The short-term strikes are expected to end Saturday.

12:05 a.m.

Stores are hoping deals and excitement bring shoppers to stores and to their sites for Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

But Black Friday has morphed from a single day when people got up early to score doorbusters into a whole season of deals, so shoppers may feel less need to be out. Some love the excitement. Others may check their phones and go back to sleep. But the Thanksgiving weekend, when stores go all-out to attract shoppers, can be an indication of how they’ll do through the season.

With the jobless rate at a 17-year-low of and consumer confidence stronger, analysts project healthy sales increases for November and December. Analysts at Bain say Amazon is expected to take half of the season’s sales growth.

A man waits to check out as he shops a Black Friday sale at a Best Buy store on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017, in Overland Park, Kan. Shoppers are hitting the stores on Thanksgiving as retailers under pressure look for ways to poach shoppers from their rivals. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Thanksgiving holiday shoppers check out the bargains at the JCPenny store in Glendale, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. Shoppers are hitting the stores on Thanksgiving as retailers under pressure look for ways to poach shoppers from their rivals. As the holiday shopping season officially kicked off, retailers are counting on a lift from a better economy. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

People line up to check out as they shop a Black Friday sale at a Best Buy store on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017, in Overland Park, Kan. Shoppers are hitting the stores on Thanksgiving as retailers under pressure look for ways to poach shoppers from their rivals. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

People line up to check out as they shop a Black Friday sale at a Best Buy store on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017, in Overland Park, Kan. Shoppers are hitting the stores on Thanksgiving as retailers under pressure look for ways to poach shoppers from their rivals. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)