Mystic – No mad crush of deal-hungry shoppers here.

Around noon today, Black Friday shoppers at Olde Mistick Village started out with a leisurely stroll hampered only slightly by cold and drizzle, wandering into stores with eclectic names like Raining Cats and Dogs and Silk Road Imports.

Unlike their big box counterparts, Target and Toys R Us, retailers in this shopping "village" opened their doors at 10 a.m., and planned to stay open until 8 p.m. While the paths to shops were far from crowded, several of the stores were chock full of shoppers browsing and yes, buying.

"Every Black Friday it starts out a little slow, because people are going to the sales at the big boxes," said Suzanne Lane, owner of the Gray Goose Cookery, Gray Goose II, and Elizabeth and Harriet, which features American handmade crafts. "It's been steady this morning, but it'll be crazy this afternoon."

Touting "real" discounts, as opposed to marked-up prices belatedly reduced, Lane said fall so far has brought better business than last year.

As for the shoppers, most said they were budgeting tightly and spending frugally, whether they came from as near as Waterford or as far as Southborough and Ashland, Mass.

"I'm definitely cutting back this year," said Pam Brown of Southborough, who is budgeting $600 this year instead of $1,200 and buys for about 10 people. So far, she had shopped only for herself, but planned on picking up more gifts before the day was out.

"We're not getting a pay raise on Social Security," added Betty Wortman of Marlborough, Mass. "They are going up on Medicare, though."

A big crowd at the Meeting House in the village center waited in line around 11 a.m. for Santa, and one shopper, Stacey Hancock of Quaker Hill, said she managed to purchase a $579 front-loading washer/dryer set at Sears at the Crystal Mall around 4 a.m. before heading here with her children. Only five tickets for the appliances were offered, she said, adding that the practical savings drew her there.

"I never got out on Black Friday before," she said.

Her children, Ashlee, 9, and Jordon, 10, were planning on asking for hand-held and regular video games the old-fashioned way: on Santa's lap.