Outside Target, at 5 a.m., shopper Terri Craig could barely contain her excitement over Black Friday bargains.

"You tend to get hyped up in the moment and people tend to go crazy,” Craig said.

She had a 40-inch (102 cm) television on her shopping list and bought one for just $119.

"It's a really good sale,” Craig said.

A crowd camped out at Polo Park starting at 5 p.m.Thursday, not for deals, but for the release of the latest Air Jordan sneakers.

"Honestly, they're not even on sale. We're paying full price,” said shopper James Smith.

At local record store, Into The Music, owner and manager Greg Tonn put a different spin on Black Friday. Instead of offering bargains, his store sold a limited quantity of special releases on vinyl. Selections included new titles from The Doors, Grateful Dead, and Miles Davis.

"There's a certain mania for it and we had a pretty good lineup at the door this morning,” Tonn said.

Back at Polo Park, Kelly Young skipped three university classes in search of sale prices on clothes. She said Black Friday has better deals than Boxing Day.

“I find that there's a lot more deals today," she said. "Lululemon is like 50 per cent off on stuff."

Not all stores slashed prices. Polo Park shopper Melissa Robins said at least one retailer did the opposite.

"I asked one of the stores what deals they had for today and she told me they were upping the price on everything they had,” Robins said.

What started as a post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas shopping phenomenon in the United States has exploded north of the border. When Manitoba retailers saw local shoppers head south for savings, they countered with their own version of Black Friday.

Polo Park Shopping Centre General Manager, Deborah Green, said it's the third one at Polo Park and almost 100 per cent of stores are participating.

"You don't need to go to the States anymore,” Green said. “Everything's here. You can save your money, your time and come shopping at home."

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce vice-president Loren Remillard said the move has paid off.

"Traffic is definitely up in our retail outlets,” Remillard said. “We're seeing more and more people embracing the Black Friday concept here in Canada and we expect that trend to continue."

Terri Craig said she plans to do Black Friday all over again, next year.

"That way we can keep our money here in our own country instead of going across the border and helping out their economy when we already need to help out our own,” Craig said.

Even if it means getting up early to stand outside on a cold November morning.