They came. They shopped. They saved.

With sale advertisements in hand, shoppers descended on area retailers as early as 3 a.m. Friday for the chance to cash in on special Black Friday deals and to get a head start on holiday shopping.

Clad in her pajamas, Sarah Janssen ventured to the Wal-Mart on U.S. 17 at 3:15 a.m. to get a deal on some electronics. After waiting around for nearly three hours and "stepping over piles of comforters," Janssen finally got what she went for.

"Me and my husband were fighting the crowd," she said. "Just to get a stupid camera for $69."

Janssen said she never went to sleep Thursday night.

Morgan Terry joined the Janssens with her 18-month-old daughter Hannah as the group headed to the mall to score some additional deals, including a video camera at Belk that was on sale.

Friends Jennifer Figueroa and Candace Burns hit up Bath and Body Works at the Jacksonville Mall in the early morning hours to take advantage of a gift with purchase offer after having visited Wal-Mart earlier that morning.

Burns said it was interesting to sit back and watch the chaos at Wal-Mart.

"They were guarding all the televisions," she said.

Jen Neal and three of her friends took a break from shopping at the Jacksonville Mall around 7:45 a.m. and enjoyed some cold beverages. Neal said she hadn't planned on taking part in Black Friday.

"I wasn't going to come ... it didn't take a lot of convincing," she said.

The group spent the morning shopping for "kids and family members," starting their day at 3:30 a.m. at Goody's in order to get holiday shopping completed early.

"I just want to be done," Neal said.

Jennifer Maready, owner of Devan Lane gift shop in Emerald Isle, made several stops Friday bringing her visiting niece, 12-year-old Kaitlyn Klinger, along for the adventure.

"We sent mom home and got (Kaitlyn) out of bed at 4:15 a.m.," Maready said. "We've had a lot of fun, most people have been nice."

After picking up a pink vacuum at Target for a "pretty good deal," Maready and Kaitlyn went to Lowe's where they saw the price of an air compressor drop before their eyes. One minute it was $89 and the next it was marked down to $58 - into their cart it went.

"There's been pretty good buys," Maready said.

Over at Best Buy, Tabitha Dula pushed a large box containing a Christmas gift for her husband into the backseat of her car before she prepared to return home after spending the morning shopping.

"Craziness is what brought me out this morning," Dula said.

Contact Jacksonville/Onslow government reporter Molly DeWitt at 910-219-8455 or mdewitt@freedomenc.com.