BANGOR – The before-sunrise crowd waiting at local storefronts Friday was serious about shopping and showed it with walkie-talkies, oversized cups of coffee and at least one handgun.

Clint Parsons, a 27-year-old Etna resident who waited outside Best Buy from 6 p.m. Thursday until 5 a.m. Friday, left his sleeping bag at home, but brought his handgun “just in case” anyone tried to rob him of cash or his place in line. Parsons said he owns a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

“I was worried,” Parsons said. “You’ve got all these people in line with $1,000 on them, and there have been those incidents over PlayStation 3 in other places.”

Parsons, a manager at Central Maine Harley Davidson, left Best Buy peacefully with a laptop and a plasma TV, saving almost $1,000 with his early bird discount, he said.

When Best Buy opened its doors at 5 a.m., about 700 shoppers poured in, said Paul Gadoury, general manager.

“I’ve got well over 100 employees on today,” Gadoury said. “Response is much greater than last year.” He was referring to BestBuy’s seven-hour special from 5 a.m. to noon.

Other stores saw similar response to their own sales. Wal-Mart Supercenter in Brewer opened at 5 a.m. to more than 200 shoppers and expected to see more than 10,000 by the end of the day, according to Brad Roseberry, store manager.

Angela Norton, 29, and her sister Wendy O’Brien, 39, of Frankfort set their alarm clocks for 3 a.m. and arrived at Wal-Mart at 4:30. They split up to shop for Wendy’s children, using walkie-talkies to tell each other where the best sales were and where to find the items they were looking for.

“I thought the portable DVD players would be in electronics. Instead, they’re in the food section,” Norton said, picking up a DVD player for herself and one for her sister.

Back in Bangor, Jen Kimball-Caron and Chad Smith, a Winterport couple, scooped up T.M.X. Elmo, as in “tickle me extreme,” at Toys R Us, when it opened at 5 a.m.

“There was a big pile of them when we walked through the door, so I grabbed one,” Kimball-Caron said. At 5:45, just one T.M.X. Elmo sat on the shelf in a back aisle of the store.

Things were less hectic at the Bangor Mall, where a thin but steady crowd of shoppers browsed the stores. Starbucks and Loose Moose Cafe had the busiest cash registers in the building, as both businesses kept customers hydrated and caffeinated.

“This is the earliest we’ve ever been open,” said Kim Reid, director of mall marketing. “Things are just starting to pick up because people aren’t used to us opening this early.”

All stores in the Bangor Mall opened by 6 a.m., and some opened as early as 5 a.m.

Lori Lynch, manager at Hallmark, said their weekend-long 20-percent-off sale had attracted many shoppers before 7 a.m. She said penguins are the popular holiday icon this year, and a plush singing, dancing snowman and penguin toy was selling well. Lynch said holiday card sales remained steady.

“The Internet and all that has not hurt the card-buying business,” Lynch said.

Across the street, Stillwater Avenue was backed up with cars slowly inching toward the Kohl’s, Old Navy and L.L. Bean Outlet complex. Shoppers leaving the stores were quickly pursued by drivers looking for parking spaces. Canadian license plates dotted the lot, indicating that word of Bangor’s bargains and lengthened hours of operation during the holiday season had crossed the border.

Downtown at Epic Sports, shoppers were greeted with another sale, as well as refuge from the hustle and bustle of malls and big-box stores.

Customer Alan Jansujwicz, a 37-year-old cardiologist and Bangor resident, said he prefers to buy from the smaller shops.

“I would rather not go to the mall, unless it was a life-threatening situation,” Jansujwicz said.

Bangor shoppers represent a very small portion of the 137 million shoppers expected to prowl store aisles this long weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based retail trade association. Their 2006 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey says the average holiday shopper is expected to spend $791 this year, up $50 from 2005. Furthermore, shoppers will take advantage of sales and discounts during the holiday season to spend an additional $99 on themselves, the survey said.