Several stores didn’t wait for Black Friday to get customers in the door. And customers across Central Florida were more than willing to hit the stores after waking from their turkey coma.

  • Shops and malls opened their doors on Thanksgiving evening
  • Thanksgiving shoppers says stores are not as crazy
  • BLACK FRIDAY: Store hours, resources

Seminole Towne Center in Sanford opened at 6 p.m.

With her mom and daughter by her side, Dr. Derushiel Williams led the three generations into the mall.

"We came out, it was a great flow of people, so we’re having a great time," Williams said.

The National Retail Federation says of the millions of people shopping this long holiday weekend roughly, 1 out of every 5 shoppers planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day.

"I guess you could say today was scouting to see what’s going on," said shopper Terrie Moore.

But according to the Federation, Black Friday still holds the title of the busiest day of the holiday weekend.

"We’ll be here tomorrow too," Moore said.

The rush of Black Friday doesn’t interest Dr. Williams.

"We don’t come out when it’s like a big rush of people," Williams said. "All that bumping around, people pulling... no, we just come out and peruse through and take our time."

The Seminole Towne Center closed at 1 a.m. The mall reopens at 6 a.m. Friday.

Electronics deals get shoppers to line up in Tampa

People spent hours lined up behind barricades to be the first through the doors of stores that opened at 5 or 6 p.m.

"If you're getting $250 or $300 off, I think it's worth the wait," said one man who was in line at the Best Buy on Dale Mabry in Tampa.

"I did the Black Friday thing a couple years ago and it was a lot crazier than this. This is actually more organized than what I've been through before," said Elaine Carter.

Stores made things easy by putting doorbuster deals right up front so people could grab them and go. They were also letting small groups of people in at a time.

"We got here about an hour and half before they opened and we got our tickets for a TV so actually it wasn't so bad. Right after we got here, people just started rolling in," said Steve Linquist.

If you're willing to wade into the fray on a holiday, there are deals worth the effort.

"I only spent $700 on all this and I got two TV's, a laptop and a printer," said Suzy Preeto.

Christian Gonzales and his friend spent 22 hours camped out in line.

"It was worth it. Low prices, great service," he said.

People said they were actually "thankful" to get a jump on their holiday shopping.