People jam stores at 5 am to start holiday season Twin Falls Times-News
28.11.09
When the stars of Thanksgiving night were still bright, they
were out in full force.
A long line of shoppers formed outside Target at 1611 Blue Lakes
Blvd. N. in Twin Falls well before the doors slid open at 5 a.m.
for Black Friday, one of the traditionally busiest days of the
holiday shopping season for retailers.
At 4:30 a.m., the line stretched from Target’s doors well beyond
the store building toward Pole Line Road as shoppers chatted and
made last-minute checks of the their shopping lists and scheduled
shopping stops.
For Melodie and Andrea Hatch of Twin Falls, two sisters-in-law,
the day began early. They were out at 2:30 a.m., making their first
stop at Old Navy, which opened at 3 a.m. A couple of hours later,
they were waiting for Target to open up.
“It’s like a rush,” Melodie Hatch said as she waited in line.
“Shopping is my drug of choice.”
With a smile, Andrea Hatch said the best part of Black Friday is
“having my husband’s blessing to go shopping one day a year.”
Outside the store doors, a row of shopping carts funneled the
line of waiting shoppers toward the doorway that would open at 5
a.m. sharp. Store manager Ben Anderson handled that task
himself.
“I love doing it,” he said. “I love to see all the
excitement.”
A streaming throng of shoppers surged into the store as Anderson
greeted them. Some quickly grabbed red shopping carts and crammed
them with flatscreen televisions and toys, while others headed
directly for the merchandise without bothering to stop.
Sara Osterhout and Melissa Brown, two cousins from Burley, said
they headed for Twin Falls at 1:45 a.m.
“This is an every-year tradition,” said Osterhout, who came
searching for portable DVD players.
In toy aisles and the electronics section, carts often clogged
the aisles, at times creating short traffic jams as shoppers
navigated through the store.
For those who had waited early, the shopping trip was done
before 5:30 a.m., leaving them time to seek an early morning coffee
fix.
Matt Crider of Twin Falls got to Target at 2:15 a.m. By that
hour, he was already one of 20 people waiting outside the
store.
Hundreds were in line by the time Target opened.
“I didn’t think there would be this many people,” said Crider,
who purchased a portable DVD player. “It was like a race.”
But the race for shopping bargains didn’t become
contentious.
“I didn’t see any bloodshed,” Crider said.
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