Shoppers swarm to stores before sunup on Black Friday to bag bargains

BRISTOL, Va.  – With some area retailers open as early as 3 a.m. and a number of shoppers camped out and lined up hours before that, it was a hectic Black Friday here, where it wasn’t hard to find bargains or lose track of loved ones.

“I think I’ve lost my husband,” a laughing Annetta Shipley said early Friday, as she pushed a cart up a clogged aisle in Target on Highlands Center Boulevard.

“He went over to look at the sales in electronics, and now I can’t find him,” Shipley, of Bristol, Tenn., said of husband, Chris. “It’s a real madhouse in here, but I’m having fun with it.”

Fun, crowds and spending were in huge supply across the area as thousands of shoppers swarmed stores, plazas and the Bristol Mall to take advantage of big sales on Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving and the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

Just outside Bristol, Va., the shoppers stood in long curling lines and huddled around gas heaters in the parking lot of Old Navy and Best Buy, anxiously waiting for doors to open before dawn.

At major retailers like JCPenney, Sears, Belk, Walmart and Bath & Body Works, shoppers excitedly filled both carts and bags.

And at Target, shoppers like Shipley strolled in sections that were occasionally three deep with people who were snapping up loads of sale items.

Target Manager Blaine Anderson said “more than 500” shoppers were lined up in front of the store when it opened at 5 a.m., and they were clearly in a mood to buy, buy, buy.

The biggest early sellers were 32-inch Westinghouse TVs at a sale price of $298, and deeply-discounted toys, board games and electronic items, he said.

At Bristol Mall, Kathleen Holbrook, of Bristol, Va., strolled the clogged concourse with boyfriend, Marvil Maynard, and daughter, Jamie. The three, chatting happily, lugged numerous bags from JCPenney.

“The deals are really great,” said Holbrook, giddy over finding low-priced household items to help furnish her daughter’s new home.

“And even though it’s crowded everywhere, it hasn’t been that bad or obnoxious at all,” Holbrook said. “I’d even say it’s been pleasant to shop.”

Andrew Duffy wore a pleasant and amused expression as he stood in Target’s DVD movie section. His wife, Kelly, had just given him the mission of finding movies for their two children, Killian, 6, and Fionna, 4, while she shopped a few aisles away.

“Now I’ve got to find something all of us can agree on and watch together, which is impossible,” said Duffy, gripping a cup of Starbucks coffee.

When a nearby DVD of “Kung Fu Panda” was suggested as a compromise, Duffy smiled, sighed and shook his head.

“Nah, we’ve already seen that,” he said.

Originally from Ireland, Duffy and his wife, who grew up in Bristol, Va., traveled from their Asheville, N.C., home to spend Thanksgiving with her family.

“Since we’re in town, we figured we’d knock out some shopping, too,” Duffy said.

Larry Sparks, of Bristol, Tenn., was clearly in the midst of some heavy-duty shopping. While wife, Lois, stayed inside the Bristol Mall to walk from Sears to other stores, Sparks toted bags back to their car – so he could free his hands for more.

“She’s doing the shopping, I’m doing the carrying,” Sparks said. “And we started Christmas shopping before Black Friday even came.”

At Walmart on the Volunteer Parkway, shopper David Leab said he thought twice about getting to the store so early, fearing long lines and scarce parking spots.

But as Leab unloaded bags from his cart into his vehicle, he gave a thumbs up to his Black Friday experience.

“It wasn’t too bad, not too bad at all,” said Leab, a Bristol, Tenn., resident.

Back at Target, shopper Michael Sandoval, of Woodbridge, Va., coaxed his father, Mario, to buy him “Assassin’s Creed 2” as an early Christmas present.

Mario Sandoval looked at his 16-year-old son, glanced at the hot-selling video game, paused and said, “All right, all right.”

With a smile, the father admitted he’s a pushover.

“It’s Christmastime, and we found a Christmas gift he really wants,” he said.

“That’s the whole point of coming out here on Black Friday with all of these other people, you know?”

The free-spending shopping frenzy across Bristol even had area restaurants feeling plenty of holiday cheer Friday. Chick-fil-A Manager Davan Johnson stood inside his packed restaurant at the Bristol Mall, wearing the happy smile of a man who was selling lots of chicken and biscuits.

“In just the first 30 minutes after we opened, we doubled the sales we had when Black Friday started last year,” Johnson said.

“The holiday season has been great for us already. Definitely so.”

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