Shoppers start early on Black Friday - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

While some stores are keeping to the tradition of not opening until the day after Thanksgiving others got the holiday shopping season started earlier than ever before.

Crowds rushed through the doors of the Southern Hills Mall at 11 p.m.

Most of the stores in the mall didn't open until midnight.

Although places likes Sears stayed opening overnight.

Last year, there was only one door for shoppers to enter and that door ended up coming unhinged.

So this year, they opened up all the doors to shoppers.

Opening up early for the second year in a row, mall officials say is something shoppers want.

"It's what just what customers are expecting now. It's really changed over the years, the shopping patterns and the expectations of the guests. So we just try to make sure that we are meeting their expectations and opening up the mall accordingly," Kris Walter-Wenell, the Southern Hills Mall Director of Marketing & Business Development said.

As you can see, the mall was a very busy place.

As an added bonus, they handed out 100, 70-dollar off vouchers for Cirque du Soleil at midnight.

Some of the stores that opened Thursday night are staggering their deals, to keep shoppers coming throughout the morning.