The lines started building in front of stores early Friday as crowds packed St. Thomas stores for after-Thanksgiving Day sales.

Kmart stores throughout the territory brought out most shoppers with bargins starting as early as 6 a.m. Thursday. Everything from flat-screen televisions to toys were tagged with “Black Friday” sales stickers and most of what was in stock was flying off the shelves until late Friday evening.

While shoppers said they didn’t want to talk as they browsed through, it was evident that the store had planned ahead for the event. Additional staff were out on the floor helping, and in anticipation of the long lines, Kmart had organized sales, clearance and other racks near the cashiers and kept shoppers grabbing until the last minute. None of the Kmart managers or supervisors wanted to offer a comment on the record about how sales for the day stacked up and several said they weren’t allowed to talk to the media.

Near Tutu Park, the Cash and Carry warehouse was also offering deals. Several pieces of furniture in the store were marked at half off — some down from $200 or $300 — and shoppers were also able to get a head start on their Christmas shopping with bins outside offering up everything from decorations to gift wrapping as low as $.99.

Cost-U-Less on St. Thomas has become a major shopping haven for toys during the last two Christmas seasons, and in front of the store, long tables with electronic deals were empty by 5 p.m. Managers and cashiers were wrapping up the day close to 7 p.m., while others re-stocked shelves in preparation for the weekend crowds.

“It went well,” one manager, who declined to give his name, said. “Not as good as some years we’ve had, but well.”