Bleary-eyed, but still smiling Bealls Store Manager Jennifer Hermanns stood inside the Cortez department store mid-day Friday answering an assault of questions.

“Yes you can exchange those for another color,” she said.

“Yes, you can put those on layaway,” she said.

“Yes, I will hold those for you until you get back,” she said.

And on and on they went.

A day in the life of a retail worker on the busiest shopping day of the year is hectic to say the least, and on top it off, at the Cortez Bealls, a problem with the computer system was making it impossible for clerks to take anything other than cash or Bealls credit cards.

“Can you hold that necklace for me? I’m going to run out and get cash,” one woman said.

Local stores started early this year. At Bealls, the doors actually opened on Thursday at 4 p.m.

The parking lot was packed.

“We rang up 400 sales before 10 p.m.,” Hermanns said.

And the store stayed open until 1 a.m. and reopened at 6 a.m. on Friday.

Beside the obvious computer glitch, Hermanns said it had been a good couple of days.

“Last night it was packed in here. This morning was a little slow, but it is getting busy again,” Hermanns said.

There were lines at all the counters.

Kimo Hern, of Cortez, walked out of the Walmart parking lot Friday with a cart full of goods. He shopped at Walmart on Thursday night and Friday before noon.

He got a microwave for $30 and Christmas trees for 30 percent off.

“We scored. We really needed a microwave,” he said.

Hern said Walmart was so busy on Thursday night, that people were parking in nearby parking lots and on the streets to get into the store.

“It was a mad house,” he said.

For Hern, the draw to Walmart on Thursday night was a phone. He got a 4G LTE for $52. The phone would normally cost $180, he said.

“I waited in line for two hours,” he said.

Hern pulled out his old phone, and it was cracked.

“I really needed a phone,” he said.

For the most part, Thursday night seemed to be a success for retailers that were open.

“I’ve never seen the parking lot that full,” Hern said.

Mark Drudge, executive director of Cortez Retail Enhancement, said a few local businesses reported a good Saturday on what most have dubbed “Small Business Saturday.”

But Drudge said the Cortez Retail Enhancement Association is focusing on a weeklong shopping local campaign, that started on Saturday and will run through Dec. 6. The campaign is called Home for the Holidays, Your Passport to Savings.

Shoppers who wish to take park in the campaign will get a passport and for every stamp they get in the passport, they will be entered into a drawing for Cortez Cash. And if they get all the stamps, they will be entered into a drawing for a new bedroom set, Drudge said. Eighteen businesses are taking part in the campaign.

Also, don’t miss shopping local day on Dec. 6 in Cortez. Drudge said Cortez Cash will be walking around Cortez handing out free Cortez Cash, which can be spent anywhere in Cortez.

“If he sees people shopping local, he will hand out Cortez Cash to them,” Drudge said.

Drudge says he hopes people shop in Cortez more often than just Small Business Saturday.

“It’s always a good time to shopping in Cortez,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cyber Monday was expected to be a big hit on after the busy holiday weekend in shopping malls, millions of Americans were expected to log on and keep shopping on the day dubbed Cyber Monday.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, has been the biggest online shopping day of the year since 2010. That’s expected to continue, even though fewer people overall are expected to shop on Cyber Monday due to earlier promotions online.

The day could take on added importance after a Thanksgiving weekend that saw fewer shoppers and lower spending than last year nationwide, according to some estimates. In addition, more retailers are pushing deals in later hours since people are increasingly shopping after work.

Retailers have been pushing “cyber” deals all month and will continue to do so this week, dubbed “Cyber Week,” hoping to spur customers to spend. And it seems to be working: Research firm comScore said late Sunday that e-commerce spending for the first 28 days of the November and December shopping season totaled $22.7 billion, up 15 percent from last year. Sales jumped 32 percent to $1 billion on Thanksgiving Day and 26 percent on Black Friday to $1.51 billion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.