BRENTWOOD, Mo. – Rain wasn’t enough to keep motivated shoppers away from St. Louis-area stores on Friday, even though some lines were relatively short ahead of Black Friday store openings.

“It’s gotta be the weather,” said Eric Beck, 44, of Ladue, Mo. He and his daughter, Caroline, 17, had been waiting with umbrellas outside Best Buy since 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. opening.

In the predawn hours at a nearby Walmart, employees outnumbered shoppers, most of whom were grocery shopping. There was just one customer at a GameStop in the same retail complex, who was chatting with three employees.

The line at Best Buy grew slightly as the store’s opening neared. Ben Baker, the store’s manager, came out and began distributing tickets for popular items.

“I’m sorry if I ruined your day,” Mr. Baker told the small crowd after announcing the store had sold out of the coveted 40-inch Toshiba TVs the night before.

“See, it’s just a bunch of malarkey, man,” said one man, folding up the soggy, neon pink ticket for a Samsung television and XBox combination in his hand. “Black Friday is only good if you’re getting appliances or cheap gifts.”

“I won’t ever do it again,” he added.

Inside the store, Mr. Baker addressed the employees in the minutes before 8 a.m. He was expecting more shoppers than on Thanksgiving, but spread out over more hours. Many of his employees had worked the night before, but seemed upbeat as shoppers like the Becks could be seen folding up their umbrellas and getting ready to come in. They cheered when Mr. Baker said he had ordered them food for the day.