BANGOR – Arnold Potter of Houlton climbed out of bed at 5:30 a.m. Friday to start his holiday shopping. He was not alone. Thousands joined him in long lines in search of early-bird bargains.

Potter and his wife, who spent Thanksgiving with relatives in Bangor, got in line at Kmart about 6:30 a.m. hoping to get a scooter advertised Thanksgiving Day. By Friday afternoon, a scooterless Potter was slunk down in a Bangor Mall chair, surrounded by stuffed shopping bags, waiting for his wife and son to finish up so they could all head home.

“My feet are exhausted,” he sighed. “We found some of the things we were looking for that were bargains. It was very busy, but it’s about the same every year the day after Thanksgiving.”

Across the country, Friday was the biggest shopping day of the year. In Bangor, however, it’s traditionally the beginning of a seasonal build to the bigges retail sales day of the year – the Saturday before Christmas. According to Catherine Roach, the marketing manager at the Bangor Mall, Mainers go “looking” the Friday after Thanksgiving, but wait until later in the season to do most of their buying.

“A lot of people have today off and are with their families, so they make a day of it,” she said in her office Friday afternoon. “The sales brought a lot of people in early. They were lined up before stores opened at 7 a.m. … Despite national projections, I think we’re going to have a good year. I saw more people carrying bags than I did last year.”

Rita Vigneault of Alton brought her two teen-age daughters and one of their friends to Bangor for their traditional first day of seasonal shopping. They planned their route out Thursday after looking through the advertisements, but still found long lines in some stores.

“Best Buy had the longest line,” said 14-year-old Vanessa Vigneault. “They went all the way to the back of the store. I went there for a VCR, but got a DVD player instead. It’s supposed to be better quality, more like watching a movie in a theater.”

The four were even rewarded in some stores for shopping early. Each of the girls got a stuffed Dalmatian from the Disney store to promote the release of the new film “102 Dalmations.” At J.C. Penney, they each got free red and green felt elf hats, complete with ears, for making an early purchase.

Their last stop was the gift wrapping station staffed by volunteers to raise money for the American Red Cross. Rita Vigneault said she has some of her daughters’ gifts wrapped by the organization each year because “it keeps them from peeking at their presents” and spoiling the surprise Christmas morning.

In spite of predictions that a shortage of workers was going to create problems for retailers, Roach said no stores had come to mall management saying they could not find seasonal help. A few stores inside did have help wanted signs in their windows. The traffic on Hogan Road and Stillwater Avenue was slow and heavy much of the day, with Bangor police reporting six minor car accidents in the area between 6:24 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Friday. Police called that an average number for the day after Thanksgiving.

It was the coldest weather of the season, with the temperature in Bangor down to 12 degrees when the stores opened Friday morning. The National Weather Service predicted a slight warming trend over the weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.