MOSES LAKE - A salesperson was seeking to fill a customer request at Home Depot about mid-morning Friday:

"Any Christmas trees?" she asked. A Christmas tree sale was among the Black Friday specials when the store opened at 5 a.m.

"They were gone within the first half-hour of the store opening," her fellow salesperson replied.

Stores were filled on Black Friday with shoppers looking for those good bargains, and in fact the bargain hunters were out on Thursday night.

A witness from the Thursday night battle zone (actually Tara Zerbo, multi-media specialist from the Herald) at Walmart reported not only was the store parking lot full, so was the adjoining Staples parking lot. "It was insane there," Zerbo said.

The crowds congregated around popular items like TV sets, and by 9 a.m. the TV aisle was pretty empty.

By 9 a.m. the crowds had drifted away, but many of the bins of special Black Friday merchandise, from cartoon character pajamas to $5 music CDs, had been pretty much emptied out. Karen Cubb, of Moses Lake, was looking at computers; she tried to avoid Black Friday and its crowds altogether, but the attraction of low-priced lap tops brought her to the store, she said.

Melissa Johnson and daughter Kendall, of Gig Harbor, joined Melissa's mom Lori Allen among the later-morning Walmart customers. "Just checking out the local Walmart" while on a visit to Grandma, Melissa said. Kendall was along because she needs to learn, Mom said. 'We're teaching her young. Got to get out on Black Friday," Melissa said

Home Depot had a line of about 50 people waiting for the doors to open at 5 a.m., Manager Terry Stroud said. Home Depot owners chose to stock merchandise, like toys not normally found in their stores, Stroud said. And by 10 a.m. there was just one giant teddy bear left in the bin.

Stroud said while early-morning sales were brisk, business actually picked up after 7 a.m. "It has been a fantastic Black Friday," he said.