At around 4:30 a.m., Katie Brumm and Marilyn Wanous stood about 100 yards from Target’s front doors.

Brumm, from Osage, Iowa, and her mother, Wanous, from Brownsdale, were ready to close the football field sized gap when the store opened at 5 a.m. for Black Friday business.

With the temperature hovering in the mid-20s and sunshine nowhere to be seen, the two waited patiently for the opportunity to check a number of items off of their holiday shopping lists.

A few spots in front of them, Sarah Bakken and Tricia Linn, of Sartell, Minn., were enduring their second line of the early morning.

They had started at Sears in Albert Lea but came to Austin for the Target. Linn said she really wanted to get her hands on a dual-DVD player for an automobile.

Way up near the front of the line, Jaci Miller had her guitar out and was serenading the crowd.

Miller, who arrived around 2:30 a.m. to get the ninth spot in line so she could shop for some warm socks, played “happy songs” and a few little jingles she made up about Target.

With about five minutes to go before the big opening, Bryce Becker pushed a cart from Miller’s spot all the way to Brumm and the others in the back.

Becker, a Target employee working his third straight Black Friday, was giving out reusable shopping bags and making sure the soon-to-be customers were in good spirits.

When Becker returned to Target’s doors, the store opened and hundreds of people flooded in, ready to find as many deals as they could.

Black Friday, of course, is the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season and regularly one of the year’s biggest retail days. Nov. 27 in Austin was no different.

The store quickly filled with shoppers, many of whom beelined to the electronics section. The most popular item of the morning was a 32-inch Westinghouse LCD TV. Roughly $200 cheaper than usual, the 40 or so TVs were sold out in less than five minutes.

Stephanie Wytaske and Theresa Gehling were lucky enough to get to the TVs before they were gone. In fact, they loaded up on three of them — one for each of their homes, another for their mother-in-law.

Wytaske, who noted that she’s done about six Black Fridays, said the early morning shopping is a lot of fun.

“It’s worth every penny,” she added.

Brumm and Wanous made their way to the kids’ section, looking for pajamas and toys. Though they were separated for a little while amid the crowd, the two reunited with all the items they came for.

“Once you get out of bed, it’s great,” Wanous said of the early-morning shopping.

She and her daughter have been Black Friday patrons the last several years, which works out pretty well for Brumm.

“I just spend her money,” she said jokingly toward her mom.

Becker worked busily to keep the long lines moving inside the store. Joined by 37 other staffers — 23 more than a normal Friday morning — he said the frantic pace is worth it.

“It’s the best shift to work,” he said. “You get to interact with the people crazy enough to shop this early. It’s a lot of fun.”

Soon, the lines outside and in the aisles became the lines at the registers. Though Target staffers rung customers up at every available counter in the store — including in the jewelry section and at the customer service desk — there was no way to make it a quick process.

But if you surveyed those inside the store, they’d probably all say it was worth it, including Linn, who found her dual-DVD player. And the guitar-playing Miller, who was happy to be going home with a pair of fuzzy socks.

“I’m so happy,” she said.