There are five rules for Black Friday shopping, said the Gilliam family women as they reached the 13th hour of their holiday bargain hunting frenzy Friday morning.
They are: take a pre-shopping nap; find a baby sitter; print online coupons before leaving; Starbucks (coffee breaks fuel the sleepless night); and play fair.
The rules provided some sense of order for the four women — matriarch Joy Gilliam, her daughter, Rebecca, daughter-in-law, Melissa, and granddaughter Audrey — who started their shopping night at a Blairsville Walmart at 10 p.m. Thursday, before trekking over to the outlets in Dawsonville. Their final stop was Lakeshore Mall in Gainesville.
The Gilliams were among many enthusiastic shoppers who shrugged off a post-Thanksgiving night's sleep and braved crowds to seek slashed prices in the holiday shopping tradition.
The madness in Dawsonville started early Thursday as bargain hunters began arriving at North Georgia Premium Outlets for the center's annual Midnight Madness after-Thanksgiving shopping event.
Jakia Hopgood drove in from Decatur hoping to find a deal on designer handbags.
Standing about a hundred deep in a line of nearly 400, Hopgood said she didn't mind the long lines or the brisk weather.
"The lines are long and it's too cold, but we're hearing Coach has everything for 30 percent off," she said.
This year was the first time stores at the outlets advertised opening as early as 9 p.m. for the annual Midnight Madness event.
All of the center's nearly 140 shops were open by midnight, though shoppers started arriving at 6 p.m. Thursday to try to be first in line.
On a quick break from his job at an outlet store early Friday morning, Lance Adams took a seat next to a man and his sleeping child on a bench outside Banana Republic.
"I've worked a couple Black Fridays before. It gets pretty crazy. One year I was at the cash register for eight hours nonstop," he said.
As in previous years, the parking at the center filled to capacity quickly, leaving shoppers to park at adjacent businesses along Ga. 400 and across the highway at Walmart.
Foot traffic was up from the previous year, according to a spokeswoman for Premium Outlets, though it's too soon to compare sales numbers.
Deputies reported Ga. 400 traffic backed up for miles and pedestrians crossing the busy roadway throughout the overnight hours.
Things were less hectic though still busy at Lakeshore Mall in Gainesville by 10 a.m. Friday morning, where a mixture of shoppers were looking for deals at more traditional shopping hours.
Some were like the Gilliams, who hadn't stopped their shopping since Thanksgiving night. Others started their shopping trip on Thursday night, but took a break and caught some Zs.
A few less-intense shoppers skipped the long Thanksgiving night lines to look for "doorbuster" deals at the mall that lasted until 1 p.m.
A comparably smaller crowd at Lakeshore was a welcome sight for Nicole Conner of Murrayville, who braved midnight lines at other stores on Wednesday, only to be frustrated with rude customers and depleting inventory.
After visiting a few stores after midnight and being unable to cross everything off her list, she went back to bed to try again Friday.
"It's been great this morning," Conner said. "Very organized."
Kirsten Boettcher, a spokeswoman for the mall, said lines did stretch for early-bird deals for their customers were "lined-up nicely and everyone was polite."
A few stores opened at midnight, some at 3 a.m. and the entire mall was open at 7 a.m.
Matthew Bayer, a store manager at Finish Line at Lakeshore, was on duty when his store opened at midnight.
"Things were awesome," he said of the line of people waiting for the store gate to open. "Way better than I thought they would be."