Bustling crowds of deal-hungry shoppers hit stores across Southwest Louisiana on Black Friday to kick off the holiday season.

Shoppers plan to spend an average of $650 during the four-day consumer sprint from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, according to a Deloitte survey — that’s up 15% from last year. Eight out of 10 people said they planned to do some sort of shopping during that stretch, according to the survey.

That was true of sisters-in-law Mckenzie Hernandez and Heidi Rider — who’ve been Black Friday shopping together for the past five years.

“It’s tradition,” Hernandez said. “We come every year, pretty much. We wake up at 5 o’clock, get ready and hit the stores.”

Walmart on Nelson Road was the pair’s first stop of the morning.

“I’m finding everything I need,” Hernandez said, while pointing to her full shopping cart.

Rider’s cart was a little less full.

“I’m finding what I need, except for gifts for my 6-year-old,” Rider said with a laugh. “He doesn’t want toys this year. He wants ‘older stuff.’ ”

After their Walmart adventure, the pair planned to head to breakfast at a local restaurant, venture to more stores, stop for lunch, and head back out for more.

“No plans, we just go where we want,” Rider said. “If we see something, we stop.”

Hernandez said the crowds weren’t too bad Friday morning as they made their way up and down the toy aisles.

“Last year, hardly anyone was out at this time,” she said. “There’s more this time, but not too bad.”

Brittni Law woke up at 5 a.m. Friday morning to hit the sales at Target. She wore a green “Mama Claus” T-shirt as she perused the seasonal candy aisle.

Black Friday shopping is a tradition Law shares with her mother and sister.

“We always shop together and we’ve been doing it for as long as I remember,” she said. “It’s been sweet memories for us.”

Law said the trio planned to visit “five or six” more stores before grabbing lunch.