SYRACUSE -- The onset of Black Friday puts retailers in that pins-and-needles time of year which could determine as much as 40 percent of annual revenue.

The push to lure shoppers had Black Friday starting on Thursday for some stores with retailers emptying their bag of tricks.

Locally, most malls opened at midnight, with lines of people waiting to get in.

"It's like adrenaline," said Emily Thompson of Marcellus. "You want to get the good deals, so you focus in on getting a good deal."

Terence came all the way from Canada to buy gifts at Best Buy at Carousel Center.

"It was pretty crazy. This was my first Black Friday experience--we don't even have Black Friday like this in Canada."

It's expected that shoppers will spend nearly $500 billion during the holiday shopping season, or about 3 percent more than they did last year.

About 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and 16 percent had planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself.

For the weekend, 152 million people are expected shop, up from 138 million last year.

Shoppers we spoke with say they didn't mind waiting in line for hours, as long as they got a good deal.

Click here for area Black Friday mall and store hours.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.