by Claudia Bruemmer

The National Retail Federation released its Thanksgiving weekend survey  results, and according to the retail trade group, 212 million shoppers went to stores over the four-day Black Friday weekend. The number of shoppers was up from 195 million during the same period in 2009.

The amount of money people spent also went up with the average shopper spending $365.34 this past weekend, compared to last year’s $343.31. Total spending came to an estimated $45.0 billion.

Black Friday seems to get earlier every year as retailers opened their doors earlier than ever this year, and shoppers turned out in numbers. According to the NRF survey, the number of shoppers that began their Black Friday shopping at midnight tripled this year from 3.3 percent in 2009 to 9.5 percent in 2010. By 4 a.m. almost one-fourth (24.0%) of Black Friday shoppers were already shopping in stores.

The Thanksgiving Day openings also provided an advantage for retailers. The number of people shopping on the holiday ─ both online and in stores ─ more than doubled over the past five years (from 10.3 million in 2005 to 22.3 million in 2010).

Shoppers were in the mood to purchase more discretionary gifts this year. The number of people purchasing jewelry over the Black Friday weekend increased from 11.7 percent last year to 14.3 percent this year. More people purchased gift cards, toys, books and electronic entertainment this year as well.

Onward to Cyber Monday.