Early bird shoppers seeking holiday savings were already flocking to stores on Thanksgiving Day.

Kevin Flores, who was second in line outside the Best Buy in Westbury Thursday afternoon, said he arrived at 1 a.m. The store opened its doors at 5 p.m.

Robert Luparello, a Merrick resident who also waited in line, snagged a 40-inch LED TV to replace one his daughter broke for half-price.

"Forget the cooking," Cherry Bailey, of Valley Stream, told News 12 before the store opened. "Forget the cleaning. Be on line."

Lines may have looked slightly shorter than in previous years, but stores offered steep discounts.

Across Long Island, similar scenes popped up outside stores, even though retailers have been offering Black-Friday-like deals for weeks this year.

At the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, shoppers had a selection that ranged from fashion to gadgets to little pink bears.

As big box stores trotted out steep discounts, shoppers like Luz Laverde ate turkey early in the day.

"I cooked it this morning and had turkey brunch," Laverde said. Then she went bargain hunting.

Even though Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales look appealing, some say shoppers are better off waiting until a few days before Christmas -- when bargains might favor consumers even more.

But according to retail analyst Marshal Cohen, the early deals this year seem better than usual, and waiting until the last minute might not be a great idea.

"Any good deal you can find, grab it," Cohen said. "If you wait until later...sure discounts get bigger, but the choice is much less. So you might not get the right size, or the right color, or the right model."

Experts say shoppers should keep their receipts, because if prices drop later, some stores will grant a refund for the difference.