Shoppers from the Detroit metro area are flocking to stores early to snag Black Friday deals

More than anything, it was a 30-year tradition that brought three friends to a Target and Walmart restaurant in Livonia at 6 a.m. on Black Friday.

They were joined by a small but steady stream of customers — a far cry from the huge lines and chaotic scenes of previous launches after Thanksgiving through the holiday shopping season.

“The thrill is gone,” said Kimbery Williams of Redford Township. She, Barbara Morgan and Shirl Lampkin remember that getting up early the day after Thanksgiving was the only way to get deep discounts.

“We remember the long lines and the madness,” Morgan said. “That’s not the case anymore. I haven’t been like that in a while.”

Still, a Black Friday deal that halved the price of Beats headphones was among the lures that brought Lampkin to market.

“But really it’s just our tradition to do this together,” she said.

The increase in online sales is one of the reasons why there was no chaos in Livonia. Additionally, Black Friday is no longer a single event, but weeks of discounts.

Amazon offered a second Prime Day and Kohl’s has been implementing significant price cuts since late October. A shorter holiday shopping season — Thanksgiving fell later on the calendar than usual — prompted many retailers to offer discounts starting in mid-October, Patricia Huddleston, a professor of retail at Michigan State University’s department of advertising and public relations, recently told The Detroit News.