A temporary Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death early Friday in a stampede of shoppers in New York, while two people were shot and killed during an argument in a Toys "R" Us store in California.

The Christmas 2008 shopping season officially has begun, and evidently the Grinches are out in force.

Luckily, the shopping season in Lancaster County was considerably calmer and relatively Grinch-free as Black Friday shoppers, both veterans and beginners, searched stores looking for bargains.

Stella Bernier of Lancaster has been shopping on Black Friday for about 40 years. Taking a break in the center court at Park City Center after a day of shopping with her husband, Lionel, and daughter and son-in-law, Paul and Jennifer O'Blenes of Quebec, Canada, she said the day after Thanksgiving is the best time to shop.

"It's when you get all the good sales," she said. "That's what I like best of all. I do all my Christmas shopping on that day."

Jenine Feeney of Leesport, Berks County, is a 13-year Black Friday veteran. She and her friend Melissa Hartz, a first-time Black Friday shopper, started their day at the Target store in Wyomissing and finished it at Park City.

"I used to start at 5 in the morning," Feeney said Friday afternoon. "Now that my kids are older, I start at 6. We're still going."

As they have done for the past several years, Kristin and Deb Witherite and their friend Jennifer Caine made their annual pilgrimage to Park City from their home near State College, leaving at 6 a.m. to get to the mall by 8 a.m.

"We always come here," said Deb Witherite, who lives in Snow Shoe. "It's Black Friday, and they always have good deals. We've had a good day."

Jennifer and Patrick Terry of New Holland were first-time Black Friday shoppers.

"We both had off and decided we'd like to spend the day together and try it out and see what it's all about," Jennifer Terry said.

So how was it?

"It hasn't been too bad," she said. "It was crazy at the mall earlier, but that's what you have to expect when you come out on Black Friday."

The couple took time out to bring their children, Patrick Jr., 8, and Ethan, 3, to see Santa Claus so the boys could get a jump on their own Christmas shopping. Patrick Jr. said he wanted Hot Wheels cars. Ethan said he wanted whoopie pies.

Sounds as if Santa will get off easy.

But while everyone interviewed was having a good day at the mall, Grinches were still around.

The Terrys didn't meet any in the mall. Instead, they met Grinches lurking behind steering wheels, "especially in parking lots."

"People pull out in front of you, and they're not very courteous," Jennifer Terry said.

Feeney had not encountered any Grinches this year, but said she had met plenty in the past. Usually they can be found in toy stores, she said, "like when they're trying to get the toys and electronics, and they just push in."

Sarah Ressler of Lancaster met a Grinch around noon Friday in the Target store on Lincoln Highway East. A shopper, she said, was berating a customer service clerk because the store had run out of an advertised sale item, even though the sale had begun about seven hours earlier, at 5 a.m.

"She kept hitting the (newspaper ad) and saying, 'You should have this in stock. This is advertised as being on sale,' " Ressler said. "She was mad."

Ressler didn't hang around to see what the outcome was.

"The customer service people were very helpful to me, so I just left," she said.

Considering the heavy volume of Black Friday shoppers, Park City seemed relatively Grinch-free, general manager Rachel W. Gallagher said. There were some parking problems, she said, such as motorists parking on traffic islands and along Plaza Boulevard. All got "courtesy warnings," she said.

Gallagher said mall security had been "staffed accordingly" in anticipation of large crowds, but that the day went "a lot smoother" than 2007.

Maybe a lot of Grinches stayed home.

E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com