MALONE — The line of shoppers snaked and curved from the cash registers to the back wall at the Walmart Supercenter about 5:30 Friday morning.

And this was just in the gardening section.

About 50 people — each with at least one and, in some cases, two carts full of merchandise — waited a minimum of a half-hour to pay for their purchases.

And hundreds more were doing the same in the main sales area a few yards away, clustered at every register awaiting their turn to finally walk out with Black Friday bargains.

'IT'S BEEN CRAZY'
Bonnie Boadway of Constable snagged three 32-inch Emerson high-definition flat-screen televisions for her college-age children.

"We got here at 4:30, and it's been crazy."

But this is what she wanted to get her two 18-year-olds and her 23-year old.

"We wanted three and got them," Boadway said.

She was the third customer in the line and about to pay $298 apiece for the TVs, which is $100 off the normal price for each.

A woman from Fort Covington had a defeated look about her as she nudged her overflowing basket along the floor with her toe.

She couldn't find a cart and couldn't hold any more, so she just gave up and headed for the checkout.

ON PATROL
Dozens of Walmart employees dressed in mesh vests with reflective tape to make them more visible were stationed throughout the store, walkie-talkies in hand and ever-watchful eyes scanning the sea of people.

Even more sharp-dressed men with even better radios patrolled the Sporting Goods and Electronics departments, where the largest concentration of shoppers was found.

GOOD DEALS
Marty Lamica of Malone was cashing out at the Jewelry Department with a special ticket for a 50-inch plasma flat-screen HDTV.

"I bought a plasma TV two years ago and paid $1,200. This one's $600.

"I set the other one up at my mother's house, and now she says I can't have it back," he said, laughing. "So I'm getting this one for me."

He also carried a Hewlett-Packard 15-inch-screen laptop for his son.

"I got the last one of these," he said, raising his arm to show the computer tucked underneath. "I wanted the one they had for $198, but they were sold out."

The smaller unit usually costs about $300, and with his upgrade to the $298 sale model, Lamica saved $150 by braving the Black Friday crowds.

Lamica said he had just enough time to cash out and make it home in time for a shower before going to work for 7 a.m. at Alice Hyde Medical Center.

IN LINE AT 2:30 A.M.
Kehley Roundpoint and Beatrice King tucked their packages into their truck in the Walmart parking lot and said they were on their way to K-mart next for even more Christmas bargains.

"We got in line at 2:30, but they didn't let us go until 5," King said. "We got right here for the expensive stuff: the GPS, TVs, computers.

"Kehley got a laptop for $198 and the 50-inch TV," she said, adding that she had a lot more gifts to buy to cover her nieces and nephews.

CLOSE TO HOME
Julie Rowe of Ellenburg wasn't the typical Black Friday K-mart shopper. There were no particular toys or other items she coveted. But she did want a new artificial Christmas tree.

She split off from her friends this year, who had headed to Plattsburgh for their shopping excursion.

"I figured I'd come here because it would be less crowded," she said. "A friend asked me if I'd pick up something for her at Walmart, so I went over there first. I figured I'd save her the hassle."

She priced out the trees while she was there but didn't buy one. "I came here (K-mart), and they had one I liked that was bigger and half off," Rowe said. "I really wasn't going to buy anything, but it was 50-percent off."

She lifted the 9-foot tree off the flat, red handcart she managed to find and hoisted it into her mini van.

Once she flopped the passenger seat down and slid the box into place, Rowe was headed back into K-mart to see if any more deals caught her eye.

CHILLY WAIT
Shari Esser and Marion Hart of Owls Head and Ren Taylor of Malone already knew exactly what they wanted:

"Webkinz!" they shouted in unison while waiting in 31-degree weather at the entrance to Walgreens about 6:50 a.m.

"They're buy one, get one free for $9.99," Taylor said. "They're usually $14.99 apiece."

Silky-soft horses, dogs, cats, bullfrogs and elephants were piled high in a display near the front registers.

A few were going home with Taylor for her 11-year-old son.

Hart laughed and said she was buying them for her 4-year-old granddaughter.

"And it's a good thing she can't read (the newspaper)."

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com