BARGAIN HUNTERS BLITZ STORES

Around 2 a.m. Friday, Monica E. Hind began a two-hour drive to Watertown from her home in Belleville, Ontario, so she could get some deals on Christmas gifts for her family.

When she got to town, she had plenty of company.

"We're hitting all the big stores," she said, as she waited outside Wal-Mart for some friends. "I wanted to get some video games, but in the electronics, it's just chaos."

Crowds of shoppers flocked to businesses in both the city and town of Watertown for Black Friday, the traditional start to the Christmas shopping season.

Wal-Mart's parking lot was so full that customers nearly filled Red Lobster's nearby lot just after 5 a.m. Every checkout line was backed up between clothing racks in the middle of the store about an hour later.

Mrs. Hind said she went to Kohl's at 4:10 a.m. and then Wal-Mart at 5:10 a.m., where she found a V Rocker Euro Sound Gaming Chair, which found a place in one of several packed carts.

Janet R. Young, Sackets Harbor, had been in Wal-Mart for about an hour before she was ready to wait in long checkout lines.

"I've been out since 4:30," she said. "I was just hoping to get this DVD player, not a TV, this year. I'm buying for everyone from daughter-in-laws to extended cousins."

Kohl's, Target and J.C. Penney were also on Mrs. Young's radar.

At Salmon Run Mall, Sarah H. Jandaeu, Brownville, was searching through the shoe department at Burlington Coat Factory around 5:30 a.m.

Finding deals on Black Friday is becoming a tradition, she said.

"This is my second year," she said. "Kohl's was the first store we went to. We didn't wait in line. We just showed up, but the Christmas ornaments we were looking for were already gone."

As of 6:40 a.m. Friday, Kohl's checkout lines wrapped nearly halfway around the left and right sides of the store.

"It's still early," one customer shouted while in line.

At 6:50 a.m. in Target, there were no available carts.

Although most shoppers flocked to major chain stores Friday morning, smaller stores had their share of Black Friday shoppers as well.

Game Stop in Towne Center had roughly a dozen people waiting for the doors to open at 7 a.m. A few doors down, Panera Bread opened at 3 a.m., three hours earlier than normal.

In the Price Chopper Plaza, shoppers swarmed Herb Philipson's 20 percent off boots and Crocs sale, while at Michael's, an arts and crafts store, Carol J. Meyer, Hammond, picked up scrapbooking and beading supplies as Christmas gifts for her 11-year-old daughter.

She left her home at 3:45 a.m. to hit up Super Wal-Mart in the town of LeRay for a television and digital cameras.

"In Wal-Mart I waited a long time in line," she said around 7:15 a.m. Friday. "I'm going to Target after this, and Gander Mountain. Then, I'm done."

In the midst of Black Friday madness, there was a two-vehicle accident around 7 a.m. on Route 3 at the Salmon Run Mall entrance and Kmart Plaza, which caused a short backup of traffic along Route 3 and the Arsenal Street bridge over Interstate 81.