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(Updated) It’s Black Friday, an American retail tradition that’s crossed over to this side of the border. But lately, stores have been extending so-called Black Friday deals to increase sales.

So does it still have the same lustre? At Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills, it is busy, busy, busy, with lines outside of Coach and Tommy Hilfiger. CHCH News has been told the lineups have been here since 5:00 this
morning. The mall expects 50,000 people to shop here on this Black Friday – three times more people than they get on a regular weekend.

It is very busy here, with police called in to direct the loads of traffic entering the parking lot. Thousands of people are looking for the best deals. There are signs advertising 50 per cent off or more.

Eleasha Fenney lives near Oshawa, and normally shops in the United States. But because of the low dollar decided to shop here, and has already saved plenty. “I definitely would say at least $300, 400 for sure. These are actually not our only bags. We went to the car to drop off some other ones.”

Toronto Premium Outlets opened at 6 am, and will stay open until 10 pm tonight. Many shoppers declined to talk to CHCH News, confessing that they called in sick.

Stateside, there was plenty of brutality as shoppers in El Paso, Texas scuffled over televisions. At least one person was led away in handcuffs.

A temporary website malfunction at Best Buy Canada created an angry backlash from online shoppers who were prevented from big savings for Black Friday. The complaints began shortly after the company tweeted last night that its black friday sales were in effect.

By midnight, many were complaining that the site wouldn’t allow them to make purchases, as well as tweeting photos of themselves shopping on competitors’ websites.

After about two and a half hours spent fixing the website, Best Buy said many customers were then able to complete their purchases.