Have retailers’ earlier and earlier deals each holiday season made Black Friday , the Super Bowl of shopping, moot? Not quite. Some 87 million Americans still hit stores on Friday, according to a National Retail Federation survey released on Sunday. But by ramping up holiday sales events more intensely than ever, and as early as the first week of November, retailers took a big bite of what has long been the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Total spending for the four-day weekend that started on Thanksgiving is expected to reach $50.9 billion, down 11.3% from last year’s estimated $57.4 billion, according to NRF projections. The industry group also estimated that 133.7 million shoppers will have visited stores this weekend, below the 140.1 million it was expecting and down 5% from last year. Perhaps of greater concern and surprise, the NRF survey estimates growth in online sales, touted as the savior of the retail industry, will be flat. On a call with reporters, NRF CEO Matt S