AUBURN – The holiday season arrived in force Friday as anxious shoppers braved lines and crowds to hunt for bargains before daylight.

Many had coffee cups in one hand, store fliers in the other.

At 5:45 a.m., the line of shoppers waiting for Big Kmart to open stretched across the parking lot.

In that line were three generations of one family: Vivian Merritt; her daughter, Shelly Gilliam; and granddaughter, Marie Gilliam. Vivian’s grandson, Anthony Joshua Merritt, was also with them.

They live in Phippsburg. The 90-minute commute meant getting up extra early. Shelley, Marie and Anthony were up at 2 a.m. “I beat them. I got up at 1 a.m.,” Vivian bragged.

At 4 a.m. they were at Sears waiting for the 5 a.m. opening. They ran into only one problem when they rolled into town. “Dunkin’ Donuts was closed,” Vivian said.

Despite the lack of coffee, their moods seemed as festive as the seasonal hats they wore. They were downright giddy about rising before the sun to shop.

“We love it! We couldn’t sleep,” Shelley said.

Marie agreed. “It’s like Christmas morning!”

Not everyone was that enthused.

“I said I wouldn’t do this,” a resigned Robert Fellner of Auburn said with a grin. He was standing with his wife, Deloris, who seemed downright giddy about snagging a good-deal gift for her granddaughter. For some, there’s nothing like the thrill of the hunt.

Nicholas Lagassee of Auburn got up early “to get the deals.” He left his wife home in bed.

“I got up at 5. No, I got up at 4. I’m confused,” he said with a laugh.

At 6 a.m., a store employee unlocked the door. Hundreds of shoppers streamed in, grabbed carts and headed for the deals.

Many went straight to electronics for DVDs, televisions and computer games. With three DVD players in his cart, Roger Begin of Lewiston said they were good buys, about 50 percent off. He often shops the Friday after Thanksgiving for the deals. “It’s fun.”

By 6:10 speedy buyers were already at the checkout counters.

Nicole Hills of Lewiston had large pink boxes of Barbie doll toys for her 3-year-old stepdaughter.

She got up at 4:15. She and her shopping companion, Al Wing of Turner, shopped at Wal-Mart before heading to Kmart.

“That was crazy,” Hills said of the crowds. “I will not do Wal-Mart on a Friday (after Thanksgiving) again. We couldn’t get to anything.”

Retail stores weren’t the only businesses doing well on Friday.

Dunkin’ Donuts on Main Street in Lewiston is usually open 24 hours a day, but it closed for Thanksgiving. Manager Linda Roberts came in at 3 a.m. and planned to open at 5. But when she saw cars in the parking lot, she decided to open at 4. From then until 5:45, “We got bombarded,” she said.

In the Kohl’s parking lot in Auburn, Bonnie Morrissey of Turner stood beside her car and yawned while her husband, Patrick, loaded bags into the car.

The couple said they started their morning at 4:30 at Sears, then went to Home Depot where the shopping wasn’t fun, they reported. “People were pushy and rude,” Patrick said. One person ran over his shoe with a cart and didn’t apologize, he said.

It was the first time they had shopped early on the day after Thanksgiving, when many retail stores open early and offer huge discounts.

They gave the experience mixed reviews.

Bonnie Morrissey thought it was fun.

Her husband, Patrick, didn’t like the crush of the crowds. “We saved a lot of money, but I don’t think I’d do it again,” he said.