A few minutes after 6 a.m. Friday morning, Marlo Hone and her friend Liza Gonzales' night-long shopping adventure was complete.

"For us we came out here and had a good time, we got what we wanted and now it's time to go home and I have to be to work at 8 o'clock,” Gonzales said.

Lakeline Mall opened its doors at midnight, and the savings continued into the daylight shopping hours.

"A lot of stores are having some amazing sales—40 percent off, 50 percent off, buy one get one, those sort of good things,” Monica Esparza with Lakeline Mall said. “Now is the time to start your holiday shopping list."

Employees say a lot of work goes into Black Friday, and that's before the doors even open.

"It's the biggest day of the year for us,” retail employee Ander Hermosillo said. “It's like the Super Bowl. We prep all year for it and this is our day to shine, and we definitely were prepared, but it was chaotic at first."

The biggest shopping day of the year started earlier than ever this season, with some stores opening Thanksgiving evening for door-buster deals. In San Marcos, thousands packed Walmart trying to get their hands on big door buster savings.

It was a scene that played out across Central Texas.

"Kind of madhouse, chaos that was going on everybody rushing, putting their hand on things before they opened it up and just trying to get anything they could," shopper Justin Webb said.

For Hone, the key to a successful post-Thanksgiving shopping trip is to not take it too seriously.

Don't go out with any expectations of anything. Just go out and have fun," Hone said.

The shopping and saving continues throughout the weekend. Officials with the National Retail Federation say more than 150 million people are planning to shop this weekend.

Following Black Friday is Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.