Black Friday is traditionally a shopping event the day after Thanksgiving, but as retailers battle for shoppers’ attention and money, doorbusters are beginning earlier each year — including many this year to begin Thanksgiving evening.

Wal-Mart will open its doors this year just as dinner is digesting Thursday at 8 p.m. followed an hour later by Target and again at midnight by Kohl’s.

“Target is really excited about this and it will help keep us competitive by having an extra three hours for Black Friday shopping,” said Cartersville Target Team Leader Samantha Hohe about Target’s move from last year’s midnight opening to 9 p.m. this year. “I wasn’t at this store last year, but I hear that guests were beginning to arrive at 4 or 5 [p.m.] for our midnight opening. So our team is excited and working hard to get ready.”

Alongside the retail giants taking part in Black Friday shopping events are a number of locally owned stores and shops. Trisha Murphy, owner of Glitzy Chiks at 290 Nelson St. in Cartersville Plaza, looks forward to Black Friday and the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

“We’ve got a big Black Friday sale going on. We’re going to open at 6 a.m.,” Murphy said. “I get excited about Black Friday because it fires off the holiday shopping season. It just makes me feel good — I love seeing people in the holiday spirit and people are happy on Black Friday. They’re happy after Thanksgiving and they enjoy saving money.”

Just down the road in Cartersville’s historic downtown, Trends by Stiles, a women’s clothing and accessory shop at 14 W. Main St., will be taking part in holiday shopping events all weekend long opening at 10 a.m. for both Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

“This year, we’ll have different specials for both Black Friday and Small Business Saturday,” said Manager Darla LaRue. “Last year was our first Black Friday and we didn’t really have any specials for that day, but this year we look forward to drawing people downtown to all the wonderful retailers in this area. To do that we need to compete with the large retailers.

“Hopefully it will benefit not just us, but everyone in the downtown area.”

Kmart’s Cartersville location, which is scheduled to close in January, will not participate in Kmart’s Black Friday advertised promotions. Hours of operation Thursday will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday with continuing storewide closeout sales.

For more details on Black Friday deals, see the Wednesday edition of The Daily Tribune News.