Tired from their early-morning shopping venture, Amy Beaugh, from left, Katie Ross and Brittany Willis snooze outside McRae’s department store at Pemberton Square mall waiting on Ross’ mother, Mickey Ross, to finish her shopping this morning. The girls said they had been up since 4:30. (Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

(11/28/03)They shopped and they shopped and they shopped.

They carried bags of toys out to their cars and went back for more. They stood in lines for a shot at bargains and to get a jump on holiday buying or get it over with.

“I plan to be finished today,” said Nikitna Barnes from Hermanville.

Barnes and her friend Roselyn Turner got up about 3:30 this morning and headed to Pemberton Square mall for the first “official” buying day of the Christmas shopping season. The two were buying gifts for their children and other relatives, and, after loading up the trunk of the car, they headed back in the mall.

“A lot of stuff is a lot cheaper than normal today,” Barnes said.

Niki Hutchins from Utica said she saved $50 on toys for her two children this morning. Hutchins and her shopping companion, Alice Luckett, left their homes at 4:15 to be among the first in line.

Jeff Taylor, manager of KB Toys in Pemberton Square, said about 100 people were waiting when the store was first to break the shopping ice at 5. Two hours later, the lines still wrapped around the store as people waited to get in.

“It’s been pretty much like this all morning long,” Taylor said.

He said the hottest items this year have been motorized scooters, which sold out in the first hour, and video game machines. KB was soon followed by others at the mall and at Vicksburg Factory Outlets opening well before sunrise.

The day after Thanksgiving is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and most retailers advertise big sales to entice shoppers.

Although the early crowds weren’t as thick, Vicksburg Factory Outlets was beginning to crank up after daylight today. And downtown Vicksburg was scheduled to offer extended hours after stores opened there later this morning.

At 6:40, Sue Evans of Vicksburg was leaving Pemberton Square. She’d left her Vicksburg home at 4:30 to shop at Fred’s Super Dollar Store, which opened at 5 a.m., before heading to the mall.

After storing packages in her car, she was headed back in to finish shopping for her six children and a grandchild.

She said she had never been one of those people who waited in line the morning after Thanksgiving, but she did it because of her kids.

“There was something that my daughter really wanted, so I thought why not,” she said.