Stores and malls that opened as early as midnight on Thursday drew bigger-than-expected crowds for discounts on such items as flat-screen TVs and toys, and robust sales for the first day of the season offset slower business as the weekend wore on, according to early reports.

The biggest winners appeared to be electronics chains, such as Best Buy Co. Inc., and popular-priced department stores including J.C. Penney Co., which pulled in shoppers with good deals. Yet Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which promised the most aggressive discounting ever, was an exception, announcing Saturday that same-store sales for the month would be weaker than expected. Wal-Mart has struggled for months to appeal to both higher-income shoppers and low-price fans.

“The hysteria has come down a bit, but it was a great start,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 mall-based retail outlets. But he said the true measure of the season is whether “retailers can sustain the loyalty and excitement” until the end.

Martin expects that total retail sales for the first weekend of the season will be higher than last year, boosted by Friday’s better-than-expected business. Total sales rose six percent to $8.96 billion that day, compared to a year earlier, according to ShopperTrak.

Retailers’ strong performance was a direct result of their aggressive discounting and promotions, designed to get consumers to start shopping early. More stores and malls opened at midnight Friday, and Toys “R” Us Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.’s Sears stores opened at 5 a.m., an hour earlier than in the past.

Jerry Storch, CEO and chairman of Toys “R” Us, said he was pleased with weekend results, noting that sales were strong across the board. In addition to Fisher-Price’s T.M.X. Elmo, hot toys include Fisher-Price’s Kids Tough Digital Camera, and some of the toy retailer’s exclusives like VTech Holdings Ltd.’s pink Nitro Notebook, a laptop computer.

Gail Lavielle, spokeswoman for Sears Holdings, which also owns Kmart stores, said stores were busy through Friday and Saturday. At Sears, flat-screen TVs, digital cameras and Craftsman tools were the hot items. At Kmart, holiday decor including Christmas trees, jewelry and toys were popular.

But Wal-Mart had a slow start despite attracting crowds for special offers on flat-screen TVs and other items. The discounter said it expects to report a same-store sales decline of 0.1 percent in November, slightly below its projections for flat sales for the month. The results puzzled analysts as Wal-Mart has stepped up its discounting throughout the month, including offering certain generic drugs for as low as $4 per prescription.

As for Black Friday, C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, speculated that Wal-Mart customers might have looked only for special offers and so didn’t shop the entire store.