Ready, set, shop
By Staff Reports
Published in News on November 29, 2013 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Derika Roddick and Shon Royall stood in line all day Thursday at Target to get a pair of digital TVs. Hundreds of people were waiting in line by the time the store opened at 8 p.m.
Goldsboro shoppers got an early start on their holiday gift-seeking as several major stores in the city opened on Thanksgiving.
But that didn't keep people from coming out in droves early today to catch even more bargains.
Maria Ponce avoided the crowds on Thanksgiving Day, preferring to take her chances this morning, starting at JC Penney.
She headed out to start her day around 5:30 a.m., she said, with plans to "shop a little bit and go straight to work."
Della Howard of Fremont also got a head start on her shopping Thanksgiving night, took a break and came out again today, starting at 5 a.m. at Lowe's.
"I did right much -- Walmart, Kmart, here at the mall," she said of the earlier run, during which she found most places "very busy."
This morning's excursion was going to be brief, though, since she had to be at work at 8 o'clock.
Brittany Brown and Bria Brown, of Dudley, had a full cart as they exited Target, accompanied by two other family members.
"We started kind of late, about 5:30, but we were at Walmart last night at 8," Brittany said. "It was so busy, we went home, did a lot of it online and then came out again this morning."
Bria had a piece of advice for anyone contemplating marathon shopping -- "Make sure you wear the right shoes."
Sarah Ivey was just coming in at 8 a.m. for her second Black Friday shift at Belk after manning the store when the doors opened at 8 p.m. Thursday night.
From her view at the jewelry counter Ms. Ivey got a good view of the horde of shoppers that swooped in to pluck a pair of well priced boots from the shoe section of Belk's flagship store in the Berkeley Mall.
"It was like zombies after blood," Ms. Ivey said. "They came from every door and swarmed the boots. It was like in that movie 'World War Z' when they were climbing over the wall. The doors opened and they just came from all sides."
Before the store opened at 8 p.m. Ms. Ivey said there was a storewide meeting to get the employees pumped up.
Pat Williams got to Target at 8:05 p.m. Thursday night and was met with a line wrapped around the store.
"Parking was a nightmare at the store," she said. "We got to go all the way around the building to get in line.
She missed her opportunity for a 50-inch TV at Target but struck pay dirt at Wal-Mart leaving with a 50-inch and a 32-inch TV.
Black Friday was not busy nor crazy at Kmart at 7 a.m. For cashier Genesis Gomez, it was the early morning 1 a.m. hour that the cashier lines were moving with mostly electronic items, televisions and tablets.
Kmart also had $5 appliance items, toasters and blenders, that were good sellers.
Ms. Gomez started working at 5 p.m.
"It's been a long night," she said.
Justin Thomas, an electronics specialist, has been working on Black Friday for the past four years.
He worked last night, went home got some sleep and came back around 5 a.m. this morning. The 1 a.m. hour for him was the busiest.
"That's when the crazy is going on. It's all right as long as you keep a level head."