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Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009

Early birds in midstate catch best deals on Black Friday

It was very dark and cold shortly before 4 a.m. Friday.

Around the residential neighborhoods, only a few vehicles were out and about.

But that wasn’t the case at the shopping centers as cars darted up and down parking lots looking for spaces to park.

Hundreds of shoppers were standing outside — sometimes for hours — waiting for various retailers to open their doors.

Like a lot of other Black Friday shoppers, Brandy Bryant, 29, of Macon, and her cousin Lindsay Hardman, 22, of Warner Robins, got up before breakfast to continue an annual tradition of shopping the day after Thanksgiving.

“For the most part, she’s my shopping buddy every year,” Bryant said of Hardman. “About 50 percent of it is for the deals, and 50 percent is just for the fun of it.”

Also they are not always buying Christmas presents.

“Usually on Black Friday, about 50 percent is for us,” Bryant said.

The pair got to Belk at Macon Mall just before the doors were unlocked at 4 a.m. They wanted to be one of the first 250 to get gift cards being handed out at the entrance. The gift cards were in varying amounts from $5 up to $1,000. Bryant and Hardman each got $5 cards, but they were still happy.

Like many serious Black Friday shoppers, both women were armed with the advertising inserts from the newspaper and they had a plan. They rushed back to their car and went to JC Penney, which was giving away Disney snow globes along with a $10 coupon. Bryant has been collecting the globes for about 10 years.

Now that they had the free stuff they wanted, they were ready for some real shopping and headed to Sears. Bryant went straight to the tool section to pick up a gift for her husband, and Hardman headed back to the home section. After getting checked out fairly quickly, they went back to the car.

They zipped down Eisenhower Parkway to Eisenhower Crossing shopping center for some deals they wanted at Target, which wasn’t opening until 5 a.m.

But after looking at the huge line of people waiting to get inside — it stretched up the sidewalk to the Old Navy store — they decided to alter their plan.

They checked in by cell phone with Hardman’s mother, who was trying to order a Big Wheels toy online from Wal-Mart for Hardman’s 2-year-old son.

It was out of stock online, so the two women headed to Wal-Mart on Harrison Road. The parking lot was crammed full, so Hardman went inside while Bryant waited in the car. The store sold the last Big Wheels just before Hardman got to the counter. The pair headed back to Target.

It was about 5:30 a.m., and it was still dark.

Hardman got in line at the electronics counter. She mainly wanted to buy a Nikon camera for $88 — marked down from $140. After Bryant picked up a few things at Bed Bath & Beyond, she decided she wanted the camera too and joined Hardman at Target.

This is where the women got bogged down.

By now, all the early shoppers had gotten the door-buster deals they wanted, and they were ready to check out. Two separate lines to the electronics counter snaked around the store. The line of people for the main check-out registers at the front of the store stretched toward the back.

But the shoppers in line were friendly and chatted among themselves, sometimes about the best places to find the best deals. Many of them were on cell phones chatting or texting with family and friends who were in other departments or shopping at other stores.

It was Brenda Yawn’s first early Black Friday shopping trip, and she also was waiting to buy the Nikon camera. Yawn and her family came to Macon from Vidalia on Thursday and stayed overnight in a motel.

“We have enjoyed it,” Yawn said. “We haven’t seen any fights. It’s just a longer wait.”

They decided to shop early “for the gift cards and the special deals,” she said.

Yawn and her two daughters got $55 in three gift cards from Belk at The Shoppes at River Crossing on Riverside Drive.

“So, it was worth it,” she said.

Yawn, who got up at 3 a.m., and her daughters were going next to Best Buy to get movies to send her son-in-law who’s serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, she said.

At 7:50 a.m., the line inches closer to the register.

“Target has really slowed us up,” Bryant said. “We could have gone to 10 stores by now.”

Finally at 8:30 a.m. — three hours after stepping in line — the two women got their cameras and a few other items and left Target.

The sun was shining.

It was time for breakfast, so the shopping buddies headed to Chick-Fil-A before going across town to River Crossing for more shopping.

To contact writer Linda S. Morris, call 744-4223.