Black Friday madness

Instead of sleeping in Friday, Kim Phillips and Cornell Cleveled set out on a mission to purchase toys. Arriving at Walmart at 4:09 a.m., they were fortunate enough to secure some of the “doorbusters,” even though they were barely awake.

“I think it’s worth it,” Phillips said. By 8 a.m., the two had already navigated the throng of shoppers at Target twice, picking up some robes and towels on the second round. “We saved a bunch of money,” she said.

Black Friday, the unofficial, high-octane start to the holiday shopping season, drew thousands of bargain seekers like Phillips at a time when many shoppers can’t afford to miss out on savings. Parking lots and shopping carts were stuffed full along 42nd Street in Odessa as customers made their way in and out of big-box stores.

The National Retail Federation, a trade group, predicted about a 5 percent increase this year in Black Friday shopping nationwide. The pre-dawn crowd anticipating a 5 a.m. opening at Target suggested a similar pattern.

About 500 people lined up in front of the store, many of them eyeing electronics and appliances advertised at a fraction of their suggested retail price, said store manager Lisa Bennett, who estimated the crowds were about double the size of last year’s turnout. The store’s limited supply of 32-inch flat-screen televisions, marked down to $249, was wiped out within two minutes, and discounted vacuum cleaners and GPS devices also seemed to fly of the shelves, Bennett said.

Zhu Zhu pets — a robotic toy hamster — also have been a must-have this year.

“For the past four weeks, people have been waiting outside for them in the mornings when they arrive,” Bennett said.

At Sears, “tailgaters” began waiting in front of the store about 11 p.m. Thursday for a chance at a washer and dryer set on sale for $599, said store manager Leonard Estrada, who arrived at work at 2:30 a.m. Friday to ready his troops for a 4 a.m. opening. 

“What’s neat about it is the atmosphere,” Estrada said during a brief break in his office about mid-morning. “You could definitely tell Christmas is in the air.”

Around town, doorbusters did not last long. And in many cases, those who waited for the sun to come up to begin their shopping missed out on some of the better deals.

“I didn’t find anything I wanted,” said Joanne Rayos of Odessa, who didn’t hit her first store until about 7 a.m. She settled for a jacket and a vest she found at Target.

Daniel Blue of Odessa usually eschews the shopping frenzy that is Black Friday but got off to a 6:30 a.m. start at Sam’s Club at the behest of his girlfriend. While a number of shoppers said they would take advantage of online deals, Blue said he prefers shopping in person, just not that early.

“I like to touch what I’m buying,” he said. “Too much gets damaged during delivery.”

In the Music City Mall, Shai Bernstein of Jerusalem tried to capitalize on the Black Friday crowds to sell more of her Dead Sea skin care products.

“It’s weird,” Bernstein said of the American impulse to rise in the wee hours of the morning and race to big-box stores. “But then everything is different here.”

Not all of the holiday shoppers were looking for gifts for others. At JCPenney, Erica Gonzalez of Odessa said she finished her shopping early this year. So what enticed her to wake up early Friday and brave the crowds?

“This is all for me,” she said. “I wouldn’t get up early for anybody else.”