In an effort to draw more customers in a struggling economy, many businesses are starting Black Friday shopping specials early this year.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is notorious for being a shopper's holiday, with blowout specials, long operating hours and early openings. But many stores are opening even earlier this year and deals are being spread throughout the week.

Theresa Miller, manager for clothing store Aeropostale in Town Center at Cobb mall, said their doors will open at midnight Thursday and will stay open until the mall closes at 10 p.m. Friday.

"We'll have some door-buster specials going on Friday, but our big sale, where everything in the store is 50 to 70 percent off, actually started (Wednesday) and will run through Sunday," Miller said. "There will be some other stores open that early, and we find it kind of alleviates the mad rush. Plus, it's fun. Black Friday is a tradition for some shoppers. Some people get so excited for it, and really, we do too."

Miller said there will be 80 to 90 employees working throughout the day, as opposed to the approximate 30 who work on normal business days.

Brandi Walker, manager of the Brookstone at Town Center, said their doors will open at 5 a.m., but deals there are also already happening.

"Everything we'll be doing on Friday we've already been doing since Tuesday, except we'll have a free giveaway on Friday," Walker said. "We've just found that this draws more customers early, so we end up selling more throughout the week rather than just one huge day on Friday."

Walker said there will be double the amount of sales associates than usual on the floor Friday.

"Black Friday is always insane, but it's also exciting. This is my ninth year in retail, and it feels like it's coming early this year. But we've already been selling a lot, we've been busy already, so it's really exciting," Walker said.

Jim Fielding, president of Disney Store Worldwide, said that foot traffic in malls is generally down this year from last year, so generating that traffic has posed a concerned for the mainly mall-based chain.

"We're hoping to hit about even with what we made last year, and are trying out some new ideas with our marketing because of the weakened economy," Fielding said.

Some of the company's new initiatives include press blasts, radio and newspaper advertising in certain markets and taking advantage of social media.

"We'll be putting our specials on Facebook and Twitter (Wednesday night), once the stores close, advertising our specials for Friday. We're also doing a better job of educating our staff for pre-awareness and really trying to get the word out. We're just overall being much more proactive and strategic than we have been in years past," Fielding said.

Gap, Express and many other stores at Town Center are opening at 5 a.m. Friday, while many department stores such as Sears and JCPenney are opening at 4 a.m. Around Cobb, Kohl's stores are open from 4 a.m. to midnight, while Best Buy is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.