NEW YORK, N.Y. – U.S. shoppers raced for bargains Friday in a two-day buying marathon that began when more than a dozen major retailers opened on the Thanksgiving holiday, a break with tradition that drew protests from workers.

The mad dash extended across the Atlantic, where a woman was injured in Northern Ireland as shoppers rushed to get their hands on deals during a day of sales modeled on America’s Black Friday.

In the United States, the crowds were mostly orderly, though there were reports of shoplifting and a violent fight broke out at a parking lot outside a Wal-Mart in Virginia.

About 15,000 people waited for the flagship Macy’s in New York City’s Herald Square when it opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. It was the most ever, up from 11,000 last year.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Terry Lundgren, Macy’s CEO. “Clearly people are in the shopping mood.”

Across the country, the frenzy continued overnight and through the morning of Black Friday, which until recently had been considered the official start to the holiday shopping season and the biggest shopping day of the year. It was named Black Friday because that was traditionally when retailers turned a profit, or moved out of the red and into the black.

But in the past few years, retailers have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving night. They’ve also moved to discounting in early November, instead of waiting until Black Friday.

The earlier openings and sales were met with some resistance. Some workers’ rights groups had planned protests on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday because they opposed having retail employees miss family meals at home.

Some shoppers had said they would not venture out on Thanksgiving because they believe it’s a sacred holiday meant to spend with family and friends.

That sentiment didn’t stop others from taking advantage of the earlier openings and sales.

“We like to shop this time of night,” said Rosanne Scrom as she left the Target store in New York state at 5 a.m. Friday.

“We’re having a ball,” she said.

In rural southwest Virginia, a dispute in a parking lot turned violent, with one man throwing a punch and another responded by cutting the man with a knife and brandishing a rifle. Both men were charged Thursday night after the altercation outside a Wal-Mart that sent panicked shoppers scattering.

The mayhem in Belfast occurred at the British supermarket chain Asda — owned by Walmart — which had been advertising its Black Friday deals throughout the U.K. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it took a woman with an arm injury to the hospital.

It’s unclear whether or not the early openings will lead shoppers to spend more over the two days or simply spread sales between the two days. Last year, sales on Thanksgiving were $810 million last year, an increase of 55 per cent from the previous year as more stores opened on the holiday, according to Chicago research firm ShopperTrak. But sales dropped 1.8 per cent to $11.2 billion on Black Friday, though it still was the biggest shopping day last year.

Sales figures for this year’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday will trickle out in the next couple days, but some big chains already are proclaiming early Friday morning that the start to the holiday shopping season had gotten off to a successful start.

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Associated Press Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed to this story