Thanksgiving night is the new Black Friday.

While many families were winding down from Thanksgiving dinner, several shoppers stood in line at Wal-Mart in Lakewood, waiting to score deals such as the iPad Mini for $299 which also came with a free $100 gift card.

Many retailers traditionally open in the early morning hours of Black Friday, but they opened an entire day early this year.

Not everyone was pleased with the change.

“I think it takes away from Thanksgiving with your family,” said Teresa Dallas of Jamestown who has been shopping on Black Friday for over 25 years.

Dallas hosted almost 30 people at her house on Thursday for dinner. She scanned the special Black Friday inserts in Thursday’s paper five times, mapping out a shopping plan and keeping a record of which stores had the best deals.

“My favorite part is saving money,” she said. “I’m all about a bargain.”

It was the first time Dallas has shopped the night before Black Friday rather than early in the morning.

Starting at Wal-Mart on Thursday night, she did not make many purchases and was shocked at the difference in amount of shoppers.

“Wal-Mart had a lot of great deals, but a lot of them were gone by the time I got there,” she said.

Her next stop was J.C. Penney where Kristie Breda, store manager, said small kitchen appliances were selling fast.

“I think it’s good for the customers,” Breda said of the store opening Thursday night. “Rather than one huge rush, customers get to choose when to shop.”

A survey of Chautauqua Mall employees found that roughly 50 percent didn’t mind working on the night of Thanksgiving, while the other half would have rather worked a traditional, early morning shift.

“More than enough people volunteered to work,” Breda said, adding that most of her employees did spend time with their families.

J.C. Penney was open for 25 hours from Thursday night through Friday at 9 p.m. and will be open again today from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“I’d rather be a Black Friday worker than a Black Friday shopper,” said Krista Donnelly who has worked on Black Friday for seven years in a row. “It’s so fun.”

Around 10 p.m. Zack Stahlsmith and Allana Blanchard were at the front of a long line outside of GameStop and said they had been waiting six hours for the release of PlayStation 4.

“When KB Toy Store was in the mall, the line was all the way out the door,” Dallas said. “I’ll never forget those days.”

She said that in those years, Furbies were in high demand along with Cabbage Patch dolls. Furbies have made a resurgence as one of the more popular toys for Christmas 2013.

Dallas said she found the best deals at American Eagle Outfitters where everything in the store was 50 percent off.

“American Eagle rocked,” she said.

Dallas finished shopping around 3 a.m., which would have been a normal time for her to begin preparing to shop on a typical Black Friday.

Still, she isn’t finished shopping. Dallas and Vicky Colwell, also of Jamestown, will spend the weekend in Erie scoping out other weekend specials.

“I’d say for 15 years, it’s been a three-day weekend,” Dallas said. “We stay all weekend and come home Sunday night. There’ll be a lot more out there this weekend.”

Of her Thursday night experience, she concluded, “I want to go back to the old way.”