Hawai'i residents accustomed to high prices got an early Christmas present from several retail chains that promoted Black Friday sale prices that mirrored those found at Mainland stores.

Macy's, Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores offered the same prices as found in San Francisco and other cities, according to their published advertisements. Others such as Wal-Mart Stores and Home Depot Inc. offered a mix of prices that were the same as the Mainland for some items and higher for others.

"It was reasonable," said Kane'ohe resident Mano Ng, 20, as he exited the Best Buy store in Iwilei. Ng bought an iPod Nano for $20 less than he'd seen at other stores on O'ahu, and got a gift card for $25 worth of music downloads. "That was the best deal."

There was a time when prices were almost always higher in Hawai'i than on the Mainland. That began changing when Costco Wholesale opened a store here in 1988, said Stephany Sofos, a retail consultant. She said Costco and other so-called "big-box" stores have enough buying power to keep prices down.

"Our prices were 10 to 40 percent higher on average, and some things are double, like cereal, for example," Sofos said.

Macy's full-page advertisements in Thursday's paper promoted bath towels for $9.99, an three-disc stereo for $149.99 and a remote-controlled "Roboraptor" for $99.99, which were the same prices they charged in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region similar to Hawai'i in terms of high real-estate and gasoline prices.

Circuit City's eight-page Black Friday circular advertised prices that were the same as its store on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. Best Buy's circular was similar to its San Francisco pricing except for washers, dryers and refrigerators.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because it is the day when the ink on many retailers' bottom line turns from red to black, indicating the company is showing a profit.

"Hawai'i has about the same costs as in any other major city except for gas, food and electricity," said Michael Glotfelty, an 'Ewa Beach resident who moved here three years ago from Virginia.

To be sure, many items remain higher priced than those on the Mainland, including fruits and vegetables. While Wal-Mart's Black Friday circular contained 37 items that were priced similarly to those in Oakland, Calif., Dallas and the retailer's hometown Bentonville, Ark., 22 were higher.

These included a Hewlett-Packard Computer for $488, or $90 more than on the Mainland, and a child's chair that was $13, or 30 percent more than a shopper would pay in the three other markets.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Gail Lavielle said she wasn't aware of the reasons for the pricing difference, and that Wal-Mart has pledged to offer the lowest prices in any market where it operates. Earlier this month Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, said it would match any competitor's advertised prices on identical products.

"Our ultimate focus is that we're going to give people the best prices no matter what," Lavielle said.

Home Depot had the distinction of offering the only item known to be priced lower in Hawai'i than the Mainland, a $98 blower vac. It cost $1 more at a store in Colma, Calif.

More than two-thirds of the items offered in Home Depot's circular were the same price as at Mainland stores. Many of the items with higher prices were large appliances, which cost more to ship to Hawai'i.

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said the higher prices could be due to a lack of availablity from certain manufacturers, but she said she was unable to immediately confirm that.

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.