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KAHULUI - With door-busters, online stores and coupons galore, Black Friday has morphed into a holiday shopping day on Maui that grandma would barely recognize.

Just ask her.

Yoshie Kimizuka and her daughter, Corinne Nagamine, of Kihei, said that the crush of deal-seeking crowds that began lining up around midnight kept some people away from the Valley Isle's major retailers, such as Sears, Costco, Macy's and Wal-Mart.

"Watching the TV and seeing the craziness scared us away," Kimizuka said outside the relative calm of the Piilani Village Shopping Center as her grandson darted around.

"And this year we can't afford it," Nagamine said.

The economy, with widespread job losses, reduced work shifts and increased pay cuts also kept spending down this year or led shoppers to use cash rather than credit, several Maui people said Friday.

However, although complete figures won't be available until today, some local and national retailers reported that the number of bargain hunters was higher than last year.

As for Nagamine, a teacher at Kihei Elementary School, she said that Gov. Linda Lingle's plan to close the budget deficit gap with Furlough Fridays dug into her Christmas spending budget.

Still, the shopping had to be done. So Nagamine decided to take advantage of Black Friday price reductions online, between basting the turkey on Thanksgiving, she said.

Not everyone had a case of demophobia, or fear of crowds, Friday. Sonia and Barbie Viloria of Kahului hit Queen Ka'ahumanu Center's stores at 4:30 a.m., with hundreds if not thousands of others.

"It was worth it," said Sonia Viloria's niece, Bianca Nicolas, 16. "We got some good deals."

Neil Watkins of Edmonton, Canada, was not impressed, though. With the American dollar worth almost 4 cents more than its Canadian counterpart, the prices just weren't cheap enough for him to buy a Xbox gaming system his family had been eyeing at Sears.

"We checked all the newspaper fliers yesterday and then compared them to prices back home, but the sales still don't work out for us," Watkins said.

Marla Tanouye, owner and manager of the Details Boutique, a women's clothing and accessories store at the mall, said she was pleased with Black Friday 2009's receipts.

"It's been pretty busy throughout the day," she said. "I'm actually pretty surprised. I wasn't sure how this year was going to turn out with the (poor) economy. I'm happily surprised with our turnout."

But the tough economy made its presence felt early in the day when most customers asked specifically what discounts were available.

"Everybody's very focused on what's on sale," Tanouye said.

A number of shoppers were looking for items for themselves, rather than for gifts, Tanouye said.

Fears that good deals might lead to a lack of self-control and overspending led some people to skip Black Friday.

But some shoppers, such as Jason and Becky Vizthum, came out Friday with a plan. The Lahaina couple had a coupon to get a full set of luggage from Macy's for $100 and a $300-off rebate in order to get a 55-inch flat-screen TV from Costco for $1,200.

"The lines at Macy's were ridiculous," Becky Vizthum said in the Wal-Mart parking lot. "Even with all the lanes open, it was 45 minutes to an hour to check out."

The crowds, the traffic, the parking; the deals made up for all of it, they said.

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.