Shoppers crowd into the Aeropostale store at Briarwood Mall Friday morning looking for bargains.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

The weather outside was frightful. But the bargains inside the stores were delightful enough to lure thousands of Black Friday shoppers to Washtenaw County stores as the annual sales started.

The first wave of shoppers didn't even wait until Friday - they lined up at around 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at Arborland Mall's Toys R Us store, which opened at 10 p.m.

At that time, the line snaked all the way to Hiller's at the far western end of the shopping center, and the crowd - standing in windy, sleety, 32 F weather - gave off cheers as an Ann Arbor Police officer let 20-30 people inside the store at a time.

By the time Wynter Pilbeam of Britton left the store at about 10:20, the checkout area inside looked calm and orderly, and the people waiting outside hoped soon to be in her position: Pushing a loaded cart.

But it took some effort to get it.

"I was here 3 hours," she said as she headed toward her car, her prized STATS 5-in-1 Sports Center sitting amid a pile of bags.

"It was totally worth it."

At the other end of the Toys R Us experience, Pat Turk of Ann Arbor, was taking her place at the end of the line just moments before Pilbeam left the store.

She was there for Leapfrog toys for 4 grandchildren, 3 who live in North Carolina and 1 who lives in California.

Her strategy: "I'm going in and getting them, and that's it."

Wynter Pilbeam of Britton waited 3 hours in line at Arborland's Toys R Us store, but was able to buy all of the toys on her list in the first 30 minutes the store was open on Thursday night.

Paula Gardner | AnnArbor.com

She also plans no more Black Friday shopping, and no more retail shopping for the rest of the season.

"The older 3 grandchildren are getting gift cards," she said. "Then I'm done."

One shopper who didn't complete her Toys R Us shopping on Thursday was Susan Arting of Maybee. She came with a book of lists and a plan for the night: After taking a post-dinner nap, she was starting at Toys R Us, heading to Walmart and then aiming for a 4 a.m. stop at Target.

But the night's slow pace and long line at Toys R Us and the weather changed her plan. She decided to forego Arborland and head over to Walmart, giving up the chance for a netbook at a $100 discount, Scrabble Slams at buy 1, get 1 free, and a world globe for $10.

"It's raining and cold," she said. "It's not like I need pneumonia for my kids."

Still Arting didn't let it get her down. She described herself as "a Christmas fanatic," and is approaching this year's holiday with thankfulness. Her husband, after being out of work for 19 months, is working again.

Maura Childress, Tohnya McCall and Bridget Doyle hunker down at the front of the line Thursday night, waiting in the cold (and sleet) for the Target on Carpenter Road to open at 4 a.m. Friday.

Paula Gardner | AnnArbor.com

"That means we can get a few more things," she said. And that's not just gifts for her family and friends. They already plan to contribute to programs that aid families in need.

Meanwhile, other early action looked slow as the on-again, off-again rain/sleet peppered shopping center parking lots.

Across the Arborland parking lot from Toys R Us, about a dozen people waited for Old Navy to open, along with its promise of an Xbox game for early customers.

At the Ypsilanti Township Walmart, the parking lot held dozens of cars at about 11 p.m., as the store was preparing to kick off specials at midnight before launching its doorbusters at 5 a.m.

And at Target on Carpenter Road, about 10 people waited near the doors for that store's 4 a.m. opening.

They came prepared: Bridget Doyle of Saline, Maura Childress of Milan and Tohnya McCall of Ann Arbor brought chairs, down blankets, plenty of fleece and promises of "reinforcements" as the night wears on. Like a tent.

Doyle and McCall had experienced Black Friday lines in previous years; Childress was new to it, but got lots of suggestions from her 23-year-old son on how to prepare.

Early shoppers peer through the doors Sears at the Mall of Orange, Calif., waiting for the store to open at 7 a.m. on Thursday. It was the first time ever Sears opened on Thanksgiving day.

Leonard Ortiz | The Associated Press

"This is just once a year," Childress said. "They're not everyday deals."

All three women said they've noticed more ways that retailers are increasing Black Friday temptations. The deals seemed strong at many stores, which also are noticeably opening earlier and earlier. And the bonus of gift cards added to low prices also helps.

"There are a lot of incentives," McCall said. "That makes it extra worth it."

Lines aren't the order of the morning at all stores that promise Black Friday savings. At 1 a.m., only a handful of cars were in the Briarwood Mall parking lot - though that number was expected to grow by the mall opening at 5 a.m., if not earlier for the 3 anchor stores opening at 4: Macy's, JCPenney and Sears.

At the Pittsfield Township Walmart store, shoppers and their carts were lined up at checkouts shortly after the midnight deals took effect - and the lines lasted for at least an hour, according to shoppers.

Across the township, at the shopping center hub at Ann Arbor-Saline Road, many of the few dozen shoppers lined up at Best Buy waited in tents. At the other end of the mall at Kohl's, about a dozen people huddled within an hour of the 3 a.m. opening.

And lines were steadily growing at both Target and Meijer - Target outdoors, Meijer inside the store, mostly clustered in the electronics section for the early-birds.

First in line there was Tim Jeronimus, a 9th grader at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor whose parents were at home, sleeping.

He showed up at 11:30 p.m. Thursday, a full hour before the 2nd person in line: Chad Taylor of Ann Arbor.

Both were there for a PS3, but Taylor was adding the Wii bundle - complete with $50 store coupon - to his shopping list.

Neither is a die-hard Black Friday shopper, though it has run in Taylor's family: "I usually wake my wife up at 4 a.m. to go," he said.

But in this case, they decided to make the trek. "It's a good price," Jeronimus said. And asked if he'd do it again, he answered: "Probably."

And his impression of the wait until the sale started at 5 a.m.? "Long."

With three of Briarwood's anchor stores opening at 4 a.m., some customers were ready to hit the inline stores when they opened at 5 a.m.

But by 6 a.m., the crowd seemed to grow by the minute, leaving mall manager Ida Hendrix to speculate that with many major retailers starting their sales earlier and at staggered times, more shoppers were headed to Ann Arbor's largest mall earlier, too.

"The energy feels really good," she said, while surveying the crowd at center court.

Merchants offered a variety of promotions, many of them lasting just in the morning hours. Many also were 40 to 50 percent off all merchandise. As a result, the sales left the store managers "more upbeat," Hendrix said.

She and her staff were planning regular traffic counts all day to track the customer flow. She predicted, based on early shoppers, that the mall could reach its peak as early as 11 a.m.

Several people at Briarwood noticed that many of this year's Black Friday shoppers were around high school age. Among them was Tim Arnett of Sleep Number mattress store, who has worked in the mall for more than a decade.

"This is the busiest I've see early on," he said at about 6:30 a.m. "Crowds started coming right away (after opening)."

Annette Hader of Dexter was among the Briarwood shoppers at about that time. She'd already started shopping at 12:30 a.m., and found her best deals at Target. And that didn't require long waits - she estimated her time in the store from start to finish at 12 minutes.

As she paused to rest with some of her purchases and read the Macy's sale flier, she said she was wrapping up her Black Friday: "Just a few more stores."

Paula Gardner is Business News Director at AnnArbor.com. Contact her by email.