PRESS PHOTOS BY SCOTT M. NAGY Vehicles fill the parking lot of the Lehigh Valley Mall, MacArthur Road, Whitehall, on Black Friday, Nov. 27, which unofficially signals the start of the holiday shopping season.

Some retailers offered online deals all of Thanksgiving week and even the entire month of November, to the delight of many, but diehard shoppers also opted to take advantage of the savings by visiting the brick-and-mortar shops that day.