Local retailers were busy gearing up for the busiest shopping days of the year.

“We’re going to be doing some things different this year,” Walmart General Manager Christie Burns said. “We’re hoping this works out well.”

To help eliminate the crowding, Burns said the store would section off the area in front of the cash registers and put together lines for customers. She said shoppers would be directed to open registers, and many other Walmart’s have implemented this design into their stores and have seen success.

“We will have only one entrance, through the grocery department, and an exit through general merchandise starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday,” Burns said. “We’re just excited about some of the great deals we have, and hope people will come.”

Walmart will begin its Black Friday deals tonight at 6 p.m. with event one, event two at 8 p.m. and event three starting at 6 a.m. on Friday.

Goody’s will even offer hot chocolate to customers during its Thanksgiving specials, which begin today from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.

“We’re expecting a very big crowd,” Goody’s Manager Jacqueline Cook said. “We’re going to do what we call the ‘fun in line’ event where we’ll be giving away 50 scratch offs to the first people in line.”

She said the scratch offs will be for $10 off of a $10 or more purchase, and there will be two $50 gift cards and two $100 cards available in that mix.

“We will also be playing bingo,” Cook said. “The first two winners of bingo will get a $25 gift card.”

The scratch offs will continue throughout the weekend, and they will have six 32-inch TVs for $100 and 16 tablets, only available on a first come first serve basis.

Cook has also hired four new employees to help with the store during these events, while JCPenney Manager Tameka Belcher hired 10.

“We’ve had a lot of people already enquiring about our specials,” Belcher said. “We’ll be passing out our normal snow globes, and some $10 off $10 or more purchase coupons. Every 100 of those coupons will be a $100 off $100, available from Nov. 30 through Dec. 24.”

She said they would also have door busters starting today through the weekend.

The store opens today at 5 p.m. and will remain open until 10 p.m. on Friday.

Locally owned merchants Body Conscious, Aubergines, Slaters, Pink Peppers, Christopher’s and many others will be participating in specials Thursday through Saturday.

Body Conscious in Opp will be offering 30 to 50 percent off discounts storewide from 2 to 5 p.m. today only; Aubergines will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday with 10 percent discounts storewide, and an additional 50 percent off for all late summer and early fall merchandise; Pink Peppers will have discounts off entire purchases from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today; Christopher’s will have 50 percent discounts on designer jewelry Friday and Saturday; and Slater’s Emporium in Florala will be participating in Small Business Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with in store specials on medical scrubs, accessories and shoes for both men and women.

Other locations participating in Black Friday deals can be seen in today’s Holiday Gift Guide.