Local businesses capitalized on one of the busiest shopping events of the year last weekend through discounts and early openings.

Black Friday deals started early for Columbia shoppers, with some stores such as Target and Macy’s opening at midnight as opposed to early in the morning.

“This was my fifth Black Friday at Target and it was by far the most fun and most successful,” Target executive team leader Alli Crawford said. “The amount of planning that went into opening early helped it to go smoothly.”

Crawford said there was a huge rush of people when the store, located in Columbia Mall, opened at midnight but customers were well behaved and excited to be there.

Macy’s on North Stadium Boulevard also opened at midnight, as opposed to their usual Black Friday time of 4 a.m.

“There were big crowds across the country,” Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said. “We heard from customers that they appreciated the opportunity to shop earlier. They liked that they could go after all the Thanksgiving festivities rather than having to get up really early.”

Columbia Mall Senior General Manager Rusty Strodtman said he thought the earlier opening times kept the day of shopping more peaceful.

“We saw customers going from Target at midnight to others stores that opened later, which helped to stagger the crowds,” Strodtman said. “The die-hard shoppers had the opportunity to go to multiple stores and weren’t as aggressive as in years past. No incidents were reported to mall security.”

Strodtman said more than 30 stores in the mall opened at midnight, as opposed to only three opening early last year.

“Overall we had more positive business this year than we did last year,” Strodtman said. “We gave away over 1,000 donuts and tote bags when the mall officially opened at 6 a.m.”

Some stores in the mall, such as New York & Company, did not see the same success.

“The traffic was steady on Friday, but there wasn’t as much traffic as last year,” assistant manager Delisa Crow said. “We opened at 4 a.m. and, in general, I think we had a slower day.”

Black Friday was followed this year by Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday, promoted by American Express, is a day dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, according to the Small Business Saturday website.

Several local businesses downtown participated in both events by extending their Black Friday discounts into Saturday.

Britches on Ninth Street ran 25 percent off all apparel and accessories Friday through Sunday.

“In the past, Black Friday hasn’t been as great because other businesses that aren’t retail downtown are closed,” assistant manager Alex Moore said. “We feel that our strong competition is the mall, and we made a big effort this year to get customers to come downtown.”

Moore said though they got more foot traffic than expected Friday, the rainy weather kept potential customers at bay Saturday.

“It was disappointing that the weather was so bad on Saturday,” Moore said. “For privately owned businesses downtown, Small Business Saturday was a great idea. I think people would rather come downtown and avoid lines at the mall.”

Tony Bollafina, a sales associate at Alpine Shop on East Broadway, said the store received more business on Small Business Saturday than it did on Black Friday.

Alpine Shop offered $20 gift cards to the first 50 people in line Friday morning and $50 gift cards the first 20 people in line Saturday morning.

“It took time for the word about the free gift cards to spread,” Bollafina said. “There was a long line of people Saturday morning and overall it was a busier day.”

Moore and Bollafina both said they hoped to see Small Business Saturday happen again next year.

“People in Columbia want to support local business, Moore said. “I think it’s a great idea, and I hope it continues.”