Josette Davis took advantage of a buy-one-get-one-free deal at KB Toys.

Shoppers enter the Macy's in Manhattan's Herald Sqare.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Big discounts lured shoppers to stores early on Black Friday -- but in another sign of the growing hold consumers are wielding over retailers this season, many say they anticipate even further discounts ahead.

Circulars promising sweet deals got Shonna Ross, 37, to the Macy's in New York's Herald Square at 6 a.m. "I had a plan. I came to get a discount," Ross, who was buying bedding, said.

Retailers have been rolling out bargains to draw shoppers into their stores, and low prices have been driving traffic this season.

One shopper, when asked why he was at Target, said that it was solely to save money.

"Prices, what else?" said Dennis Bland, who had purchased some chair covers as a gift and for himself as well. "The only reason for me to shop is low prices."

Concerned that soaring energy prices will hurt consumer spending this season, several retailers have been anxious about how sales will shape up this year.

A woman shopping at a Wal-Mart in Columbia, Md., said she didn't pay her utility bill this month in order to sweep up the deals advertised by the discount chain.

But spiking gas prices and looming heating bills were far from the minds of several shoppers, many of whom said they plan on buying more this year than last year.

"My spending isn't really going to be affected by the gas prices," said Jennifer Siudy, 27, of Staten Island, N.Y., at the Woodbridge Center in Woodbridge, N.J. "Gas goes up so what are you going to do? I still have to drive. I'm not worried about spending less because of higher gas prices."

Josette Davis, a 40-year-old mother of three shopping at Macy's in New York, said she wasn't feeling squeezed this season either. "The sales are a good value, and I'm buying more because I have more money."

Her hands were overflowing with bags from KB Toys, where she took advantage of a buy-one-get-one-free deal to scoop up $300 worth of toys for just $150.

Retailers, who can generate as much as half or more of their annual sales and profits during the last two months of the year, may be cheering the crowds that have flocked to sales.

But shoppers, aware of their influence on retailers, are being more selective about when they flex their consumer power.

"I'm not planning on buying Christmas gifts or things for myself yet. I'm going to wait until the week before Christmas. I think I'll get better deals," Pramit Semal, an 18-year-old student, said outside the Macy's in Woodbridge, N.J.

Leroy Andino, a 37-year old teacher buying toys for his son and nieces, said the Toys 'R' Us in New York's Times Square wasn't as crowded as he had expected. He thinks that's because retailers have been offering good bargains earlier than usual this year.

"I've been picking up good sales since last month," he said, adding that he expects to see more of a frenzied rush the last two weeks of the holidays season.

-- CNNMoney.com's Shaheen Pasha, Paul La Monica and Octavio Blanco contributed to this story.

-----------------

Black Friday beckons -- click here.

Click here for confessions of a Black Friday shopper.