An estimated 350 customers were waiting outside Fred Meyer at 5 a.m. Friday.

“The busiest department was toys,” said assistant manager Mark Kawate. “That’s what people grab first.”

The pre-dawn shoppers also tucked electronics products under their arms before scampering to domestics and housewares, Kawate added.

Fred Meyer’s annual sock sale also was popular, with the big display rack taking a hard hit in the first few hours.

The scene was repeated at stores cross the country as shoppers sought out deals too good to pass up. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Chetco Pharmacy and Gifts in Brookings dialed up its opening time to 8 a.m. from the normal 9 o’clock and was rewarded with unexpectedly good sales.

“We’ll remember to do it even an hour earlier next year,” said sales clerk Karen Lomax. “Sales have been wonderful today. It was terrific. We’re very pleased.”

The store will hold its special Open House today from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Photos with Santa cost $1 and there will be free refreshments, discounts on gift items, and free gift wrapping and gift basket assembly.

At Love Me 2 Times, owner Rosie Gottlieb said customer traffic was steady all day. “We had regulars and tourists,” she said.

The latter included Andrea Wells and her daughter, Landy Williams, 11, both of Klamath Falls. Wells said she shopped in Medford Friday before hitting the Brookings shops Saturday.

“I was looking for some slippers that were blue and I found these,” Williams said proudly of her find at Love Me 2 Times.

Visitors Marline Juarez and daughter Savanna Juarez, 15, both of Valley Springs, Calif., didn’t get caught up in the break-of-day shopping rush.

“I wasn’t interested in getting up that early, Marline said.

But they still had time to hit lots of shops from Walmart in Crescent City to Loring’s Lighthouse Sporting Goods on Chetco Avenue.

Down the street a bit, at Banana Belt Gifts, new owner Barbara Fox said it was a great sales day with people in “wonderful moods, in a great Christmas spirit.”

Main Street Skate also had a profitable Black Friday, although owners Rick and Susie Clark expect things to pick up even more in coming weeks. Hot-selling items are handbags, jewelry, skateboards and the MGP scooters not available elsewhere in this area, they said.

Farther north, Gold Beach Books reported a bustling crowd.

“It’s been busy,” manager Carolyn Trigueiro reported. “It was quiet in the morning, but the closer we got to the afternoon sale we had people hanging out all over the place.

“People seemed to be in a good mood, and there were a lot of out-of-towners, too.”