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Today may be Thanksgiving in the U.S. But the Black Friday frenzy has already begun. Big box stores are opening earlier and earlier every year. And Kmart held its first door crasher sale at 6 this morning.

At Kmart in Niagara Falls, New York, 90% of the customers today on U.S. Thanksgiving are Canadian.

“This is a yearly adventure. This is my 12th year coming.”

“This is our first time. We’re brand newbies, we’re so excited to be here.”

And what are people looking for?

“Whenever we see a good price, that catches our eye.”

“This is the first year I don’t have an agenda. Usually, I’ve looked through all the fliers,
so this year we’re going stealth mode.”

It looks like others are going the same way, with carts jam packed and arms full of stuff.
But it helps if you have plan.

“Usually at 5am, we’ll head out the outlet mall. We’ll have a bit of a nap in the afternoon and head out to the mall and we’ll hit Kohl’s about lunchtime.”

“I did have a plan — but then I came here.”

They say on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, the first store a customer goes to is where they spend the most money.

“That might certainly be true.”

Katie Trento and Diane Durk drove from Guelph this morning to be first in line when Target opens at 6pm for its door crasher sales. They already know what they’re buying: “GoPro camera, X box, a TV and whatever else we can find.

“They’re probably 70% off the regular price, maybe 50 per cent.”

“It’s the experience. We’re just here for the adventure. If we don’t buy anything, we’re still going to have a good time.”

The past couple of years, Canadian malls have been getting in on the Black Friday experience. The Pen Centre in St. Catharines started its Black Friday sales at 8 this morning. They’ll continue right through the weekend.

At the Canada One Factory Outlets, several stores will open at 6am Friday and at 8am for the entire mall. You can expect discounts of up to 50%.