Ready, set, shop

Black Friday shoppers file into Best Buy to officially begin the holiday shopping season. More than 200 people came through the doors within the first 30 minutes.

By Joshua Clark
Staff Writer
Originally published Nov. 28, 2009

Thousands of shoppers showed up in force early Friday as the busiest spending day of the year arrived.

More than 200 people braved the cold Black Friday temperatures, camping out at Best Buy in Branson awaiting a chance to save big money on big items.

“We got here at 10 p.m. (Thursday) and camped out so my brother could get a laptop,” said Matt Rennie, of Columbia.

“After we got the ticket, we went to Walmart to check out their craziness, then we saw even more craziness at Kohls.”

Many area businesses, including Target, Old Navy and several stores at the Tanger Outlet Center opened as early as 4:30 a.m. for die-hard bargain hunters.

“We are very happy with this turnout,” said Aaron Byrd, operations manager at Best Buy. “This is a very big crowd for a place that is celebrating our first year of being open.”

According to shoppers who were at numerous other locations, Walmart and Target saw large crowds, as well.

“Oh my gosh, it was so crazy over there at the Super Walmart,” Patricia Arnell, of Branson, said. “There were people everywhere, and as soon as we got what we came for, we were off to jump into even more crowds. There is definitely something wrong with all of us.”

Both Walmart locations stayed open all night and held their “doorbusters” until 5 a.m.

“We were able to line up by the items we wanted and not have to stand outside in the cold, so that was so much better than last year,” Arnell said.

Best Buy opened its doors at 4:30 a.m. to give those people who stayed outside all night the chance to get out of the cold and shop before the store began checking people out at 5 a.m.

“We just wanted to get everything going as early and as smoothly as we could,” Byrd said. “We staffed for it, and we were ready.”

As far as stocking the shelves to meet the high consumer demand, Byrd says the amount of merchandise coming in on trucks increased dramatically last week.

“Our shipment was about three times what it normally is,” Byrd said. “We have more product in here than we have ever had before, but that is typical of this time of year.”

Even though there were several hundred people inside Best Buy who were just waiting in the various lines storewide, the check-out line moved fast, averaging less than 45 minutes.

“I was really surprised at how fast everything moved here,” Harrison, Ark., resident Grace Nicholas said. “I must say that this is one of the best Black Friday shopping experiences we have ever had.”

For those bargain hunters who opted not to get involved in the biggest shopping day of the year, there are still several area stores, as well as countless online businesses, that continue to offer deals until Sunday.