Jenny Hartel waited until after Black Friday had passed to begin her Christmas shopping.

A Cape Elizabeth resident, Hartel went to the mall Sunday to begin shopping for her 10-year-old and 6-year-old because she thought the atmosphere would be a little more relaxed. The oldest of her children had put an iPod on his list, while the younger one wanted Army play figures. Hartel said she didn’t plan to rush to buy her gifts, and hoped to avoid stress this holiday season.

However, as some shoppers like Hartel have sought to avoid the stress of Black Friday – the name given to the day after Thanksgiving because it marks the time of year many retailers turn a profit – malls across the country have stepped up their efforts to attract customers they’ve lost to big box stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart by making that day at the mall as long and as entertaining as possible. This year the Maine Mall opened at 1 a.m. on Black Friday with bands, a live video feed from Iraq and deep discounts at many of its stores.

If early holiday sales there are any indication, the strategy is working.

“We’ve gone $8,000 over our projected sales at this point,” Brian Valente, daytime manager of the Hickory Farm kiosk at the mall, said Sunday. He reported that business had been steady since Friday.

“Everything we have heard was very positive,” said John Geddis, general manager of the Maine Mall and an employee of General Growth, which owns more than 200 malls across the nation. He said just about every store in the Maine Mall participated in the 1 a.m. opening.

It is the second year the mall has opened in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving. Opening early on Black Friday is a strategy malls across the nation are using to combat business lost in recent years to stores like Wal-Mart, as well as to online shopping.

“It gives us an opportunity to start off the season in a popular way,” said Geddis of the festivities and the early Friday opening. Shoppers who arrived in the early morning hours were rewarded with deep discounts in various stores, said Geddis.

The South Portland shopping mecca is also extending its regular hours for the holiday season. The usual 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday shopping time is being extended an average of an hour on each end of the day. Sunday hours are now 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The exact holiday hours for the month are available at mainemall.com.

As for the long days, employees seemed at ease with the extra load.

Becky Marcil, who lives in Biddeford and cooks at Thornton Academy in Saco for her regular pay check, works at the Hickory Farm kiosk to make extra holiday money. She said she was less concerned with the late hours than seeing some stores force employees to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” She was handing out free sausage samples on Sunday and said she greeted mall-goers with whatever she deemed appropriate.

“It’s a free country,” she said.

Laurie Eastman, normally a stay-at-home mom in Westbrook, is also picking up extra holiday money working at the mall, where she is helping run the Santa’s Pen kiosk.

“It is the first year for me doing this kind of work,” said Eastman. She worked for a few weeks as an elf for the mall’s Santa before applying for the kiosk job. Eastman was happy with her new job and has no problem working extra holiday hours.

A steady stream of customers came into GameStop, a video game store at the mall, on Sunday to check out the new systems just out for the holiday season. People waited in line to try out the new Xbox 360 and Wii. Store clerks Arthur Bennett of South Portland and Adam Johnson of Portland were busy helping customers with products and questions.

Bennett said the new game systems are popular presents this year and have brought lots of business to the store. All three big hitters have new systems: Playstation 3 ($600), Xbox 360 ($400) and the Nintendo Wii ($250). Games that are popular this year are “Gears of War,” “Resistance: Fall of Man” and the most popular, “Zelda,” said Bennett.

Another popular item is the plastic gift certificate that can be used like a credit card. The Maine Mall has one that can be used in any of the mall’s stores, and many stores have their own cards, as well.

“I buy gift certificates, a lot of them,” said Camille Bolduc of Biddeford. Calmly sitting on one of the mall benches near Sears, Bolduc said he is not really tuned in to what his four children and four grandchildren want for Christmas.

Smiling, Bolduc said his wife was currently doing the shopping.

Arthur Bennett rings up a customer at GameStop in the Maine Mall on Sunday, Nov. 26. He said new game systems are flying off the shelves. An elf is busy making toys at Santa’s workshop in the Maine Mall.