Chilly shoppers pack Valley stores for Black Friday deals
8 a.m., Fashion Fair mall: The Fresno mall, which opened at midnight, was still bustling eight hours later.
Ofelia Muro of Kingsburg sat on a window sill at Victoria’s Secret, surrounded by nine shopping bags and too weary to shop any more.
“I really feel tired,” said Muro, who woke up at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, hit Walmart’s midnight sale and shopped all night.
Despite that, Muro said she was having fun.
“It’s one time a year. You have to do it.”
7 a.m., Target, Sierra Vista Mall: Seventy-six people were in the checkout line at the store at 7 a.m. The line stretched from the cash registers to the back of the store in the men’s section.
The store, which opened at 4 a.m., had sold out of the $4.99 Disney Princess My First Baby doll advertised in its circular. A woman snatched up the last $3 toaster at 7:02.
6:45 a.m., Kohl’s, Sierra Vista Mall: Kathy and Ray Morse of Clovis spent an hour and a half waiting for a register.
“Never, ever done it in my entire life,” Kathy Morse said of joining the Black Friday crush. “I conned my husband into doing it before we’re old and gray. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we’ll never do it again.”
The Morses had their arms full of clothing, but no shopping cart. As they waited in line, some customers who had completed their purchases gave them a cart. Those same customers returned later and gave them a 50% discount coupon for Kohl’s.
“All the lousy stuff that’s out there, there’s still sweet people out there,” Kathy Morse said.
5:41 a.m., Best Buy: Amber Schy of Fresno said the crowd got a little scary around 4 a.m. “People started cutting the line and that got really intense.
“It’s an experience. Definitely an experience everyone needs to have. Maybe not this cold. It was fun.”
5:14 a.m., Best Buy: After a countdown by employees, the cheering crowd of hundreds rushed through the doors at 5 a.m. Employees standing on desks and step-stools directed customers to one of 19 cashiers standing by.
Continue to check fresnobee.com this morning for on-the-ground updates as Bee reporter Bethany Clough chronicles the shopping madness.
4:56 a.m., Best Buy, River Park: Kim Miller of Fresno has been in line since 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. She and hundreds of others are in a line stretching past Ashley Furniture to Alluvial Avenue in temperatures just a few ticks above 30 degrees.
Black Friday got an early start this year as many retailers opened on Thanksgiving Day with special shopping deals.
Kmart and Sears got the earliest starts on the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season –both opened early Thursday. Toys R Us got things started at 10 p.m. Thursday and will stay open through the night.
The Fresno Bee
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