While most people were likely still sleeping off their Thanksgiving meals in the wee hours of Friday morning, a predawn army of shoppers kicked off Black Friday at Hawaii malls and stores in search of bargains.

And bargains they did find, sometimes after waiting in long lines.

“My feet are so sore,” said Fay Lee, a Kaneohe resident who had been shopping at Ala Moana Center since 10:30 p.m. Thursday and was in a line of about 40 people outside the LeSportsac store before it opened at 6 a.m. Friday.

Lee, who had packed a ham sandwich from Thanksgiving leftovers to eat during her holiday shopping odyssey, took advantage of LeSportsac’s Black Friday sale on Tokidoki bags that were 70 percent off. After applying an additional 25 percent discount coupon given to the first 50 or so people in line, she paid $39 for a $168 fanny pack.

“Yeah, that’s a great deal,” Lee said. “That’s so worth it to come out for Black Friday.”

At Kahala Mall, Ryan Inayoshi was among about 20 shoppers in line when GameStop opened at 5 a.m. The 34-year-old “big kid” from Moanalua laid out $200 for 10 Funko pop-culture vinyl figure “mystery boxes” at $20 apiece.

Funko made the boxes, filled with five items, exclusively for GameStop on Black Friday with 1 out of 8 boxes containing a “super-rare chase Golden Pop!” figure that Inayoshi said had an uncertain resale value.

Brandon Saigusa of Honolulu visited Kahala Mall’s GameStop to buy some PlayStation games and a controller after deciding not to battle longer lines and more aggressive shoppers at places like Best Buy and Walmart, where he’s gone in past years for Black Friday.

“It really got out of control,” he said of his past Black Friday experiences. “I don’t need the aggravation of being pushed.”

The scene at Kahala, where a few stores opened at 5 a.m., was more mellow, he said.

Summer Ihori of Mililani got in line outside Fighting Eel, a local clothing retailer, at 5 a.m. — two hours before the store at Kahala would open. “We usually don’t do this,” Ihori said of shopping on Black Friday.

Ihori’s friend Staci Lloyd of Kaimuki explained that their motivation was merchandise priced as low as $20 in a store where she’s used to paying $100 for a piece of clothing. “Usually their clothes are kind of pricey,” Lloyd said.

At another local clothing store nearby called Adore, the first three customers in line for a 5 a.m. opening got free fashion handbags. About 40 people were in line when the store opened, attracted by the offer of 40 percent off everything until 10 a.m.

“We have a good turnout,” said Tasha Yagi, Adore’s owner.

Marissa Tanaka, a hard-core shopper from Makiki, was first in line at Adore and had started her holiday shopping spree at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving at Waikele Premium Outlets. Then, at 2 a.m. Friday, she hit Macy’s at Kahala, before hanging out for the Adore opening. “I knew there was going to be something (special),” she said. “I didn’t know what.”

Tanaka was among many local consumers who shopped on Thanksgiving, a trend in recent years sparked by ever more competitive retailers that have spread out what used to be a bigger crush of shoppers on Black Friday.

Shopping online also has diluted some of the Black Friday frenzy in stores. Still, deep discounts promoted on what used to be the traditional start to holiday gift-buying brought out a wave of sometimes weary and tired-looking shoppers Friday before the sun came up.

The predawn scene at Ala Moana resembled what the mall can be like on an ordinary evening, with the stars out and a bustle of shoppers carrying bags. Uniquely, though, there were a few people here and there napping, with their eyes closed and heads down on a table or reclined against a wall. Meanwhile, employees were cleaning floors inside some stores that would open at normal hours.

About 40 stores at Ala Moana opened at midnight Thursday, with more following early Friday.

At 6:30 a.m. Friday there was a line of about 100 people waiting to get in Lululemon Athletica a half-hour after the store opened. One draw was women’s Wunder Under yoga pants selling for a little over $70 instead of $89.

Inside the Skechers shoe store, floor supervisor Sully Boungnarith welcomed customers in a Santa hat to enhance the festive atmosphere. “It seems crowded,” he said.

Manami Kuse, a visitor from Tokyo, caught the bus from the Sheraton Waikiki hotel to arrive at LeSportsac by 5:30 a.m. and participate in Black Friday. “Big fun,” she said.

Pearlridge Center General Manager Fred Paine said after a slow start that the mall was just as busy as other years.

“It started off a little slow, until 8 a.m.,” he said. “And then things really started to pick up, and it was very comparable to Black Fridays of years past. It was very, very crowded by about 11:30 a.m. Our parking spaces were all occupied.”

Alex Kirley, senior marketing manager at Windward Mall, said the mall has seen increases in foot traffic from previous years.

“This year’s Black Friday was another successful event for Windward Mall with all of our stores doing very well and seeing good foot traffic,” Kirley said. “In general, our stores have seen significant year-over-year increases, which we attribute to the growing excitement as we continue to welcome new retailers and make improvements mallwide to create a great shopping experience.”

Black Friday got its name because retailers make a lot of money on this day — so much that the finances of some retailers might swing on this day from an accounting loss, which used to be recorded in red ink, to a profit — sometimes referred to as being “in the black.”

ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based consumer research firm, predicts that Black Friday will be the busiest shopping day of this year’s holiday season after it ranked second last year behind the Saturday before Christmas, dubbed “Super Saturday.”

The International Council of Shopping Centers expects consumers will spend an average of $259 in stores from Thursday through Sunday, based on a poll of consumers earlier this month. Most of the spending, 41 percent, was expected to be on Black Friday, compared with 15 percent on Thanksgiving and 30 percent on the weekend.

Sheri Sakamoto, president of the trade association Retail Merchants of Hawaii, said that figure sounds maybe a bit high but doable. “I wouldn’t doubt it,” she said. “The economy has picked up a lot, and gas prices have gone down. It’s going to be a great weekend for retailers.”