I’ve done two stints as The State Journal-Register’s morning-after-Thanksgiving Black Friday reporter, and they probably won’t be the last time you’ll find me shivering in front of Best Buy or Toys R Us, talking to bargain-driven shoppers Thanksgiving night.

I have to admit, though, it’s a pretty fun assignment. Photographer T.J. Salsman photographed the fun and he produced this great video. It’s one of my all-time favorites at the paper.

Early Birds / Some deal-seekers stake out stores overnight to get goods
Nov. 24, 2007

Little can come between a serious bargain hunter and the come-hither allure of a $200 desktop computer, an $800 big-screen high-definition television or a $15 DVD player – not a shower of icy snow, sub-freezing temperatures or even long lines.

Let the seduction begin.

Springfield stores were flooded as early as 4 a.m. Friday, as day-after-Thanksgiving holiday shoppers began their search for reduced-price televisions, computers, game systems and other items.

Many shoppers lined up Thursday afternoon and earlier. Some skipped Thanksgiving dinner with family for the chance to land $2 DVD movies and board games for Christmas gifts.

Those waiting in line chatted with each other, made new friends, plotted their in-store strategies, played board games, ordered pizza, drank coffee, talked on their cell phones and shivered in the chilly November darkness.

Like most years, near chaos was narrowly averted after Johnny-come-lately “line jumpers” did what they do best – cut in line.

Some shoppers walked out of the stores victorious and satisfied with their efforts. Others left disappointed and empty-handed.

These are their Black Friday stories.

Best Buy

Blue and gray camping tents. The hum of propane heaters and the scent of toasted marshmallows. People nestled inside sleeping bags and pizza deliverymen pulling up with hot pies.

Must be a scene from the local campground, right?

Wrong. It was the scene outside Best Buy, 3193 S. Veterans Parkway, on Thursday night.

“That’s what I’m talking about right there, boys,” proclaimed Greg Farley about 9:30 p.m., as a family member fired up a second heater that had run out of propane earlier.

Farley, his father, James Farley, and six other family members huddled together outside the Best Buy entrance.

They arrived at midnight Wednesday and spent all Thanksgiving Day outside the closed store, waiting for their chance to buy advertised $229 laptop computers for youngsters in the family.

“We had a lot of people pull up and ask what time they open,” James Farley said. “We do this every year. We’ve been first in line the last two years.”

Under a green shelter canopy behind them was a Springfield foursome – Rhonda Royer, Dan Means, Jeff Smith and Deanna Burgess.

They arrived at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, pleased with their No. 2 spot in line, and set up shop: chairs, sleeping bags, blankets, a kerosene heater, a folding table full of snacks and warm drinks and games to pass the time. They erected the tent when it began snowing.

“When I got home from work yesterday … I knew it was going to be 22 degrees tonight. I told Rhonda to bring the blankets, and I told Jeff to bring the tent,” Means said. “Rhonda’s mom brought turkey dinner for us.”

They were in search of Christmas gifts for their children and other items, including computers, a small television, a “Hannah Montana” DVD game, cameras and a game chair.

Chad Walton, a trucking company owner from Springfield, got in line about 6:30 p.m. Thursday and estimated he was roughly the 70th person in line. It was his fifth or sixth year lining up for Black Friday specials.

“I come here every year. It’s the only day I request off,” he said.

Walton was in search of a global-positioning system advertised for $119, a $200 desktop computer and a camera.

“Everybody’s pretty cool out here. If you’ve got to go to the bathroom, they’ll hold your place in line for you. The veterans, like me, watch out for people. The camaraderie’s good. It’s fun,” he said.

“People will drive by all night and laugh and point at you, but when you’re walking out with your stuff, and they’re just pulling up …”

He walked away with everything he wanted except for the computer.

Another group also missed out on the bargain-basement computer. Carmen Jones and several friends drove all the way from Smithville, about 80 miles northwest of Springfield, and got in line Thursday afternoon, confident they would be able to get one of the computers for her family.

However, she said, several “line jumpers” – the bane of hard-core Black Friday shoppers – sneaked in line in front of them, and the computer vouchers were gone by the time Best Buy employees got to Jones’ group.

“I can cry you a river because we don’t even have a computer at home. This was going to be our first computer,” she said.

Gamestop

Nothing was going to stand between three Rochester teenagers and a Wii game system.

Elliot Batten, 17, Justin Emmons, 17, and Matt Emmons, 19, for weeks have been calling stores all over the Springfield area – even stores in Chicago – in a quest to track down one of the elusive game systems.

Every phone call resulted in disappointment. None of the stores had the systems. Then they learned Gamestop, 2845 S. Veterans Parkway, expected to have nine Wii systems on Friday.

Eureka.

So the trio set up camp outside the store at 9:50 p.m. Thursday, armed with multiple layers of clothing, hats, a blanket and the determination to power through sub-freezing overnight temperatures. They not only were first in line, they were the line until Friday morning.

“We might be a little extreme, but we’re not taking any chances,” Matt Emmons said.

“Our parents were like, ‘You guys are crazy. Just keep warm,’” said Batten, who was wearing four shirts and a coat. “It’s going to go so fast. This is all I want for Christmas.”

The three teens didn’t think they would have any trouble passing the time; among them they had a laptop computer, cell phones and an iPod. They laughed at the suggestion Thursday night that they might change their minds when temperatures dipped to the forecast low of 22 degrees.

“It ain’t gonna happen. We’re teenagers,” Batten said.

Sure enough, they were still waiting outside the store at 6 a.m. Friday, and their spirits were still high. That’s what the lure of a Wii will do to a teenager. Four other people were in line behind them.

“It was really cold, but other than that it was fine,” Batten said. “We sat in the van for about an hour to warm up. There was nobody else out here, but I was holding onto the door handle ready to jump out. We didn’t feel so bad when other people got here.”

Circuit City

“It’s not so much the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity,” joked Andy Polley, as he and a group of nine others huddled in a circle at the entrance to Circuit City, 3051 Wabash Ave., Thursday night.

The large, spirited group earlier had been several smaller groups of people, but once the temperatures plummeted and the snow began falling, they decided to “circle the wagons” in the interest of keeping warm. Four women, also part of the group, huddled in a red tent next to them.

They all arrived about 4:30 p.m. Thursday and were in the market for computers, televisions and other electronics.

“This is my third year in a row. This is my first year buying something, though,” one of the men said.

Polley, 25, of Springfield said the decision to go to Circuit City was “pretty spur of the moment.”

“I just grabbed every blanket and hat. I just called up my friends (Thursday) and said let’s do this,” he said. His hat of choice was a large furred number with earflaps, fit for the tundra or the North Pole.

As cold as it was, the jokes and zingers were in ample supply.

“Some of these guys are just here for comic relief,” Polley said, as some of the group laughed about the challenge of keeping warm.

They ordered pizza, shared warm, foil-wrapped hot dogs, cookies and hot drinks, and spent a lot of time “just talking” to pass the hours.

“Three waitresses from Denny’s came by earlier and brought 12 cups of coffee and coupons for 20 percent off breakfast,” Polley said. “How’s that for marketing?”

Toys R Us

Rachel Bowman wanted to take advantage of the early Friday morning door-buster sales at Toys R Us, 2701 S. Veterans Parkway, but she didn’t want to stand outside in the cold darkness alone.

So she agreed to pay her sister $30 to stand outside with her, starting at 10 p.m. Thursday.

“I planned on coming out here at 1 a.m., but the more I sat at home, the more I got nervous that other people were thinking the same thing, so I came out,” she said.

Bowman, who has children ages 7 and 3, said she wanted to buy two MP3 players, a karaoke machine and maybe some other items.

“My first Black Friday time was last year. I went to Target, and that was like crazy, too. I went there at three or four in the morning, so by the time I got there, the line was all the way around the building. People were passing TVs over each other’s heads,” she said.

Shelly and Scott Huckabay have done the Black Friday thing before. Difference is, it was in California, where there’s no such thing as a wind chill.

“It’s so cold,” Shelly Huckabay said as the Jacksonville couple shivered under blankets about 11 p.m. Thursday just outside the Toys R Us entrance. An icy wind whipped around the northeast corner of neighboring Babies R Us and blasted the couple as well as Bowman and her sister.

The Huckabays were waiting in line for Christmas gifts for their 6- and 7-year-old children, including 60-percent-off Microsoft Zune MP3/video players and other items.

Scott Huckabay said they were doing their best to fend off the cold.

“We layered up. We put on layers of clothes. We have blankets, coffee and soda. Yeah, I have my ice-cold drinks,” he joked. “Next year, I’m bringing a tent and a heater.”

He and Bowman agreed there is a great deal of strategy involved in Black Friday shopping – deciding when to go, how to prepare, where to head once the store opens, how to guarantee you get everything you’re after.

“This is war games out there. This is shoppers’ war games,” he said.