A Head Start to the Holiday Shopping Season

It may only be October, but some shoppers already have Christmas shopping on the mind.

"We've already had an influx of people coming in here as of now, so once Black Friday comes around, we're going to have so many people gearing up for it," said Christina Moon of Best Buy.

Luis Alcala was one of those shoppers. He was browsing the aisles of Best Buy on Friday night, already thinking about what to put beneath his Christmas tree.

"It's never too early to get a good deal," he said.

The National Retail Federation is predicting holiday retail sales to increase by 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion.

"We know that we're comparing ourselves to pretty tough years, the last two years," said the group's president, Matthew Shay. "We know that the economy in general is more stable than it was those two years."

Alcala agreed.

"The economy is getting a little better, and I think we're going to do a little bit more shopping this year," he said.

Stores are also already to lure shoppers. Walmart is already discounting a lot of its toys before the holiday season. Target will do the same by discounting half of their toys in weekly advertisements.

Best Buy hasn't come out with its holiday deals, but the retailer knows what the hot items will be.

"I think with our new tablet PCs and Google TVs and our smart phones that we have, we're going to have so many people coming in," Moon said.

This holiday season may also be a great time to buy an LCD TV. Research firms Display Search and iSuppli expect prices for the TVs to drop by about 5 percent this year.

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