By the time Holly Mactagone, 39, made it to her favorite local clothing store at 5:45 a.m. at Ohana Hale Marketplace on Black Friday, the line already snaked around the former Sports Authority building on Ward Avenue.

It took an hour for her to get into the indoor marketplace and about another hour for her to pay for the dozen or so items from Hawaii’s Finest, a local Hawaiian apparel company operating since 2009.

“It was crazy. We didn’t get out of there until almost 9:30 a.m.,” she said, adding that the time spent braving the crowd was worth the half-off sale. “Everything was dirt cheap: bags $20, windbreakers $20, t-shirts $10. It’s all locally made. I wish I was able to buy more.”

During check out, the kama‘aina business even gave her two free tickets for a Hawaiian music concert tonight at The Republik.

>> View more photos from today’s Black Friday shopping.

The malls were also bustling early this morning with retailers expecting brisk sales on Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year. Hawaii retailers are anticipating greater holiday sales with the uptick in the economy and projected higher consumer spending. The National Retail Federation estimates 164 million consumers will shop from Thanksgiving through Monday.

“With the economy in Hawaii doing so well we really expect sales will exceed last year,” said David Cianelli, general manager at Pearlridge Center, which started Black Friday sales Thursday night at 6 p.m. to around 1 a.m. today, and reopened at 6 a.m. this morning. “Probably 8:30 to 9:30 (this morning) we really saw people show up in droves. It just has increased from then. Foot traffic has actually increased (this year).”