All-night camp-outs in front of Best Buy. Door-buster deals. Adrenaline-crazed shoppers and weary employees.

Welcome to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that symbolizes the official start to the Christmas shopping season. Stores open before the sun comes up with deep discounts to drive up sales for the holiday season.

In the Roanoke Valley, most retailers will open earlier than last year or keep the same hours. But in a rare move, one shopping center will open one hour later to trim costs.

Still, the day keeps getting earlier for some stores.

Early Friday, Toys R Us will turn on its lights long before all other Roanoke-area retailers, excluding those that usually are open 24 hours. All Toys R Us stores will open at midnight Thursday, including the store on Valley View Boulevard in Roanoke.

"If they [consumers] want to shop as early as midnight, they don't even have to go to sleep after their turkey dinner," said Adrienne Giordano, a spokeswoman for Toys R Us, based in New Jersey.

Door-buster steals on laptops, Sleeping Beauty vanities and the popular Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters will begin at midnight. A new round of sales will roll out at 5 a.m. for people who want to sleep in, Giordano said.

Still, these early-bird shopping sprees appeal to a select group of people. One in 10 shoppers will head to stores between midnight and 3 a.m. on Black Friday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. The majority of Black Friday's shoppers will be out from 4 to 6 a.m.

With consumer spending tight, this holiday season is all about finding bargains. That means that the volume of shoppers on Black Friday and through the weekend could rise, the NRF said.

Black Friday accounts for 6 percent of retail sales during the holiday season, said Aaron Martin, a spokesman for ShopperTrak, a retail research firm. ShopperTrak predicts that Black Friday, the Saturday before Christmas and Dec. 26 will be the top shopping days this year.

Target will open many of its stores, including one in Roanoke, at 5 a.m. Friday, which is an hour earlier than last year.

Both Roanoke Valley malls, Tanglewood and Valley View, will open at 6 a.m., an hour later than last year for Valley View.

Some shopping centers owned by CBL & Associates Properties, Valley View's owner, are moving back their Friday hours to help stores save on labor costs, said Sandy Heymann, who is regional marketing director for CBL.

"We've got to be smarter with the small-shop owners and with the regional small-shop tenants, because this has been a tough year all the way around," Heymann said. "I don't think it is hurting the shopper. That's what we chose to do, to not be so aggressive and greedy."

Still, some stores at Valley View chose to open earlier than 6 a.m. this year, and that's fine with the mall, said Louise Dudley, the mall's general manager. A later opening appeals mostly to service businesses, such as optical shops, that may not see waves of early-morning shoppers, she said.

Old Navy will post the earliest Friday hours at Valley View, with a 3 a.m. opening. The Disney Store and J.C. Penney will follow at 4 a.m., and some department stores, such as Belk and Macy's, open at 5 a.m.

A select few retailers nationwide also are scaling back Black Friday hours, similar to Valley View, Martin said.

"It makes sense, trying to cut back margins, trying to create a little more demand," he said. "I think there's still enough hours in the day for Black Friday."

Locally owned shops generally do not have early-morning door-buster deals, because they often do not draw the crowds of shoppers that will wait in line at Best Buy or at other big-box stores on Black Friday.

Some small shops host their own sales events throughout the holiday season to boost business. For Frantz Diamonds & Jewelry, formerly the Gem Gallery, that will entail an event in early December, when a New York designer will visit the Roanoke County store selling sample designer jewelry from Italy.

Black Friday is not a big day for the jewelry store, said owner Sherry Frantz.

"The past two Decembers, the holiday has boiled down to the last two weeks," she said. "It has been an intense amount of business in 14 days. It's kind of scary. You just have to be on top of your game for two weeks."

To be sure, a Roanoke County coffee shop is poised to draw early-morning shoppers. The Daily Grind in Southwest Roanoke County will open at 5 a.m. Friday, hoping to entice caffeine-craving consumers headed out to the sales.

Last year on Black Friday, owner Jeanie Patterson turned on the shop's "Open" sign at 5 a.m. as a test, and more people came through the doors than she expected, she said.

This year, Patterson is advertising her shop's morning hours and offering a $2 coffee and scone deal to those who arrive before 9 a.m.

But Black Friday is not early enough for some retailers. More of them are unlocking their doors on Thanksgiving Day.

For the third year, Gander Mountain, an outdoor and hunting supply retailer with a store in Roanoke County, will be open from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Hamrick's in Roanoke County also will be open all day.

Though "everyone's trying to get a jump on this day," it's not clear if opening for Thanksgiving is a large success for retailers, Martin said.

"I just don't know that there's a huge volume of traffic and shoppers on that day," he said. "Obviously, there are a select few people who want to go out and take advantage of the sales."