NATCHEZ — With Black Friday apparently too big to stay contained to one day and many stores starting some bargain sales on the evening of Thanksgiving Day, Miss-Lou shoppers made a late-night dash for the deals.

But by mid-morning Friday, the crush of the competitive shoppers had thinned down in most places of business to busy but negotiable.

After that, who was able to get what deal was a matter of patience and perseverance.

Joyce Wyatt had gotten off of work Thursday in time to take a look around at Walmart during the mad dash during the evening, but didn’t have anything in mind at the time and left without any deals.

Friday morning, however, she returned with the hope of getting her hands on an iPhone 5 or a Samsung Galaxy phone at drastically reduced prices.

By 9:30 a.m., she’d been standing in line for two hours.

“I expect I will be here about two more, but hopefully it won’t be that long,” she said.

Further up the line, Penny Washington had lost track of how long she and her daughter, Denecia Phipps, had been waiting, and sometime earlier in the morning when her feet started protesting about the standing, Washington found a stool on which to sit.

She’d been able to snag a $100 laptop — it was cheaper than one she had on layaway — and a waffle maker she wanted, and Washington said the wait would be worth the sitting and standing if she got the phone she wanted.

“I am off work today anyway, so it is worth the time to me,” she said.

For others, Black Friday was a chance to redeem a mistake made in the retail pandemonium that was Thanksgiving evening.

Karen Stringer was there for the big show Thanksgiving evening, intent on getting an LCD television as an early Christmas present for her husband.

Stringer described Thursday night’s shopping experience as “a madhouse,” and said she was able to nab a television before the stock ran out. After leaving the electronics area, her daughter-in-law pointed out at the time the box had a hole in it, but with supplies short and shoppers packed in tight, Stringer wasn’t taking her chances.

“I told her, ‘I am not going back there,’” she said.

After an hour in line to check out, Stringer got home and opened the box, only to find the screen on the television was cracked.

It was back to the Friday-morning madhouse for her.