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Miami Set To Shop For Deals At Dolphin Mall

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SWEETWATER (CBSMiami) -- Black Friday shopping is in full swing across Miami-Dade.

Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater opened Thanksgiving evening with shoppers rushing in for the big deals. Long lines waited outside big box stores like Brandsmart in Miami Lakes and Best Buy in Hialeah.

Some of the hardcore shoppers have been waiting since Tuesday.

Dolphin Mall Holiday Shopping
Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater opened Thanksgiving evening with shoppers rushing in for the big deals. (Source: CBS4)

One shopper, sitting in a folding chair and holding a black piglet named GiGi in her arms, said her family was bringing her food. "Then I think we're just gonna keep roaming to other stores until Saturday. Maybe then we'll take a rest," she said.

Brave or crazy?

It depends on how you look at it. The whole point of dealing with the long lines are the deep discounts, with some reaching up to 70 percent off.

Many shoppers arrived with wheeled luggage bags, or bought them at the mall.

Bags for their bags.

Andrew Rahaman had three of them. "It's a little inconvenient or heavy to lift bags," said Rahaman, who comes each year from Trinidad. "So for about 16 years I've been coming here to shop and we've always worked with luggage. The rule!"

The doors and stores at the mall stay open now through late Friday night, with increased security the whole time.

"On this Black Friday weekend we have police officers in uniform, undercover police," explained mall General Manager Pete Marrero. "We have our own security force. And we make changes and adaptations as we see that are needed based on the amount of people that we expect."

Dolphin Mall closes Friday night at 11 p.m.

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