Many Honolulu retailers were able to plump their Black Friday profits this year by moving up their opening times — in some cases to as early as Thursday evening.

"It’s been a pretty awesome kickoff to the holiday season," said Shannon Bell, team leader at the Target store in Salt Lake. "We had more folks in the store for the start of our sale this year than last. The line was wrapped around the building."

Both the Salt Lake store and Target’s location in Kapolei opened at 9 p.m. Thursday night, three hours earlier than the midnight opening during Black Friday in 2011. Store employees underwent training to deal with large crowds, she added.

Consumer electronics were among the popular door-buster purchases, including a 50-inch Westinghouse LCD television for $369.99 and a PlayStation 3 for $199.99, Bell said.

"The most popular door-busters were TVs, toys and clothing for infants," said Bell, who did not have a dollar figure for sales.

Fred Paine, general manager of Pearlridge Center, said about five times as many of the center’s 220 retailers opened earlier this year than last. The first merchants began opening their doors at midnight, and store openings continued every few hours until 6 a.m.

"Word got out that the handful of stores that opened early last year did very well. It’s really paying off this year for those who did," Paine said.

Hundreds of shoppers were lined up the mall’s entrances and at Macy’s at midnight, he said.

"It was pretty busy until 2 a.m. Then we had another wave at 4 a.m and another at 6. It’s been absolutely solid people all day," Paine said. "I’ve talked to more than half of the merchants, and almost all are saying their sales are stronger than last year."