(ABC 6 News) – While many don’t have work or school Friday, many were still up early anyway because it’s Black Friday. Hundreds of shoppers took to stores across Rochester for the retail holiday.

ABC 6 News Good Morning Reporter Sydney Zatz was live at Fleet Farm Friday morning as shoppers lined up to be the first ones in the doors. About 1,200 people were there as doors opened at 5 a.m. waiting to get this year’s Black Friday exclusive plush – A pig.

“We started a tradition that we come to Fleet Farm every year, stand in line, and get the free animal they pass out to the first however many people,” said Emma Witter from Rochester. She has every plush the store has given out since 2016.

13-year-old Nora Fong was joined by her friend, Julie, as they shopped around Fleet Farm.

“Well, it’s always been a tradition in my family to come here during Black Friday. We decided to bring Julie this year because she really wanted the pig.”

The Apache Mall was packed with shoppers once its doors opened. People came far and wide to find the right gifts or maybe, something for themselves.

“We had Thanksgiving out in La Crosse and the malls there aren’t that great so my cousins and I drove up here to get some better stores,” said Ava Bartel from Woodbury, Minnesota.

Then there is Aaron Cook and Keira Dorado who traveled from the West Salem area in Wisconsin.

“We don’t have a lot of stores there where we’re from so we came to Rochester because of that. We’ve been up since 6 a.m.,” said Dorado.

It’s all hands on deck for stores with hundreds of shoppers. Some start preparing hours in advance if not weeks.

“I had a group of employees coming in last night to help put some finishing touches on the store in areas that were in need. Also, our E-Commerce team came in to help start pulling the orders that were done online,” said Craig Alto, the General Manager at Fleet Farm.

Over at Scheels, it’s a weeks-long process.

“Oh! We spend weeks prepping for this day. Our ad actually broke this last week. So we had a couple more fun deals pop up today. As for operation, we are constantly stocking the floors, getting our backstocks ready. Making sure that we have crew here,” said Lauren Belter, one of the Assistant Store Leaders at Scheels.