Fall is over; winter has yet to begin. The fifth season has begun.

Shopping season.

Black Friday, the official start to holiday shopping madness, began in the early hours of the morning at some State College locations.

But this Black Friday was different. 

Best Buy opened its doors at 5 a.m., but employees began handing out "guarantee tickets" at 3 a.m. to the hundreds of people lined up at the door.

These tickets guaranteed the holders the item on the ticket, so they could come back to the store at any time between 5 and 9 a.m. to pick up their item instead of waiting in line in the cold.

The store became a frenzied and electronics-driven free-for-all once doors opened. To the crowd's surprise, sales weren't as impressive as expected. Big holiday sellers such as the new iPod Nano were marked down only $30.

At the Nittany Mall, the shoppers were as sparse as the "too good to be true" sale prices.

At about 6 a.m., JC Pennies didn't have a line at the register. Other stores were the same way. There was no mad rush to fight over that last sweater or lotion gift set. It felt like just another day at the mall around Christmastime.

A few stores did shine through with excellent sales. Bath & Body Works in the Nittany Mall was offering a "Buy 3 Get 3 Free" for its entire Signature Collection. For buying anything in the new Twilight Woods scent collection, a shopper would also get a free shower gel of any scent in the Signature Collection. American Eagle had all hoodies for $20, and when paired with their storewide 20 percent discount, shoppers could get hoodies for $16 a piece.

After Walmart's disastrous experience last year, the store on Atherton had a ho-hum feel, partly because their Black Friday sales were spread across a few days. The busiest area was the electrionics section, but it wasn't any busier than an average shopping day during the holiday season.

This might be a different story, however, when Penn State students return to State College.

Check StateCollege.com for a holiday gift guide next week.