Derik Vanderford|Daily Times A line formed at Belk around 9 p.m. Thursday evening and grew as far back as the entrance to the old Winn-Dixie before Belk opened at midnight.

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Derik Vanderford|Daily Times A sea of shoppers flows into the doors of Belk at midnight for Black Friday sales.

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UNION — Local “Black Friday” sales brought retail shoppers out in large numbers again this year.

The biggest shopping day/night of the year was a successful one for Union’s Belk Department Store.

Store Manager Gwinn Ganzaroli said there were well over 300 people in line when the doors opened. Just before midnight, the line at Belk’s entrance — which was more of a huddle than a single-file line — stretched all the way back to the entrance of the former Winn-Dixie store.

Ganzaroli said gift cards were given to the first 260 people who entered, with one of them — Charles Holcombe of Spartanburg — winning a gift card for $1,000.

“Everybody was very cordial, amicable and calm,” Ganzaroli said Friday afternoon. “People were patient, and they got what they came here to shop for. For the most part, everyone left here happy.”

What was the hottest item for this year’s Black Friday sale at Belk?

“Boots, boots, boots and more boots,” Ganzaroli said.

Wal Mart was open from 7 a.m. Thursday until midnight on Friday, with a number of sales beginning at various times throughout the event. Several Wal Mart employees said the store’s electronics department was the greatest attraction during Black Friday. Electronics department employee Erik Beaty described the scene in one word.

“Packed,” Beaty said. “You could hardly even see the floor there were so many people.”

Beaty said he got off work before the madness began last year and was shopping in it. He believes this year’s sale was much busier.

“Last year, we had stuff left over, but this year, we ran out of a lot of stuff — almost all the games,” Beaty said, mentioning that Madden ‘13 and NCAA ‘13 video games were sold out after 15 minutes of being on sale.

“There were people who were about to fight over Straight Talk phones.”

Chamber of Commerce Director Torance Inman said he was glad to see that such a large number of consumers shopped locally, rather than going out of town for their Black Friday shopping.

Staff Writer Derik Vanderford can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 29, or by email at dvanderford@heartlandpublications.com.