Before the sun came up Friday morning, hundreds of excited shoppers wrapped around River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, waiting for stores to open their doors.
"This morning we woke up she was like 'Mom why are you all excited?' I was like 'let’s go on out and see what we can do,'" said Alexis Hebert & Dafney Booker while Black Friday shopping.
"We woke up at 4:00 a.m. and got here at 4:45 in the morning to get here," said Angie Peck and Hannah Morris while shopping.
JC Penney opened its doors first at 5:00 a.m.
Dick's Sporting Goods, Belk, TJ Maxx and Joann's were next to open up.
"I got my grandma some shoes, she gets sketchers because her feet hurt her sometimes," said Kenijeh Stone while shopping with her grandma.
"We found clothes galore, cute sweaters and some fancy blenders. We even got a griddle for granny," said Hebert and Booker.
"I come here for my wife. We are getting new pillows for the bed and a few gifts for the Holidays today," said Ron Ware.
A common theme that stood out among shoppers today is that Black Friday is much more than just searching the aisles for the best deals--it's also about keeping the family tradition.
"Me and my mother-in-law started doing this 30 years ago. It’s become a tradition. Now, all of these people came with us. It turns out to be a lot of laughs," said the Hall family while shopping at JC Penney.
People of all ages joined their families on the Black Friday fun too. It’s a holiday tradition set to last for generations to come
"Well at this point, it’s a tradition. Me and my daughters have done it for as long as I could remember," said Kim Pugh, a River Ridge mall shopper.