By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is one of the biggest shopping days of the year and is the start of the holiday shopping season.
Thanksgiving day newspapers are chocked full of sales fliers which consumers comb through to find the best deals.
Many shoppers started their day before the sunwas even up to get the best deals. Many of the stores opened their doors at 5 or 6 a.m.
Niles residents Brandy Hall and Tracy Haines hit the stores filling an SUV full of stuff in Mishawaka on Friday in search of great deals on their Christmas presents.
Hall and Haines made stops at Wal-Mart, Meijer, K-Mart and Menards for their must have items.
Hall said Wal-Mart was the busiest store she went into. By the time she and Haines made it to Meijer and K-Mart, the lines weren't too bad and they were able to get in and out of the store pretty quickly with what they wanted, but at Menards they had to wait nearly an hour and a half in line.
Like Hall, Haines was also able to get everything she was looking for at the stores.
Dennis Carlson manager of the Niles Wal-Mart Super Center said everything went smoothly and his store had a great day on Friday.
Compared to other years, Carlson said there were more people in the store looking to get some of the big ticket items the store had on sale.