LeROY - If Lisa Pilotte even made a trip to the shopping centers on Black Friday in years past, she waited until the afternoon when hoards of early-bird deal hunters had died down.

But as the struggling national economy now has families everywhere pinching their pennies, Pilotte figures she'll join the morning masses this year.

"I'll probably be out at 6 o'clock in the morning the day after Thanksgiving, trying to find the best deal," said Pilotte, of LeRoy. "I'll fight the crowds to find a better deal."

Pilotte figures the atmosphere will be even crazier this year because everybody wants to save money wherever they can. But the promise of bargains appeals to her since she hasn't had the opportunity to save for Christmas gifts because of higher prices on necessities like milk and gasoline for much of the year.

Retailers may offer more discounts and sales toward the end of the year to try to counter shoppers' more conservative attitudes, said Mike Seeborg, economics professor at Illinois Wesleyan University.

"Consumer sentiment locally probably is down, just as it is nationally," he said. "They're concerned about the future. That's going to cause people to hold back a little bit."

Nicki Grimsley of Lexington isn't a day-after Thanksgiving shopper either, and even the economy won't change that fact.

Nonetheless, Grimsley will try to buy sale items during the holiday shopping season. She'll spend the same amount of money on gifts for

each of her three children as in the past, but guesses they'll get less because of higher prices.

"It'll be a different Christmas," Grimsley said.

"We have a budget for Christmas, and you go with that. I don't see it going as far as it has in the past."

This year also won't be the same for Nancy Hobson.

The Normal resident tradition-ally exchanges gifts with her

friends.

This year, she'll buy fewer gifts and might suggest a lunch get-together instead.

Rather than purchasing individual presents for her eight grandchildren, Hobson also plans to look into gifts siblings can share.