SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Get ready to shop ‘'til you drop on Friday, also known traditionally as Black Friday.

When the turkey dinner with all the trimmings has been eaten many people get out their walking shoes and gear up for the next big day. Area retail stores have high hopes for cashing in on Black Friday.

Though most stores are opening two hours before routine business hours, some stores are opening even earlier so they can reel in big profits from what they hope will be “door buster” sales.

Approximately 50,000 shoppers descended last year on the Eastern Shore Centre on Black Friday, Marketing Director Kristen Kammer-Hattox said.

Belk’s Department Store will open at 5 a.m. and Sharper Image and Express will be opening at 6 a.m. Plaza area stores such as Pet Smart and Best Buy may also be opening earlier, she said, but most stores will be opening at 8 a.m. — two hours earlier than the usual 10 a.m. opening time.

Area sales Manager Anke Lee of Belk Department Store said the store will open at 5 a.m. — like last year — and that the lines will probably already be formed by then.

“Early shoppers will have a chance to shop a little bit more leisurely, as not everyone feels like getting up that early. They are going to get first pick,” she said.

With soaring gas prices, shoppers should love the sale price of 50 to 60 percent off select items, she said. Lee said that though select items will have the big price cut, almost everything will be on some kind of sale.

The department store should see much more than a 50 percent increase in sales on Black Friday, she said. Though some people buy things for themselves, most of the shopping is done for Christmas presents.

“It is usually the biggest sales day of the year,” she said. Some sales will probably continue over the weekend, she added.

The Sharper Image will open at 6 a.m. to catch the earliest customers, Assistant Manager Adam Mannis said. Black Friday is by far the busiest day of the year, he said.

“Volume-wise we will do five to ten times what we normally do in a day,” he said.

Some people like to go ahead and make their holiday purchases earlier, he said.

“Our hottest items are massage chairs, R2-D2 interactive droid toy, and Ripstick, a two wheel caster board similar to a skateboard,” he said.

Mannis said he is prepared to come in early and he is “getting psyched about all the sales.” He said he loves the Christmas season. “The crazier it gets, the happier I am,” he said.

“Everybody is going to be out and about, and we are going to let them come on in,” Assistant Manager Connie Trawick at Express clothes store said, and the store is also opening at 6 a.m.

She described last year’s Black Friday as “crazy, but it was fun.” She said this year’s hot items include Stella jeans and sweaters, as well as dress pants, camisoles and jewelry. The store will be offering a lot of promotional items, she said.

She finds the extra sales make the day go by quicker, but she likes the fast pace.

“It is so much fun helping people find outfits or what they are looking for,” she said.