Between Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and retailers opening their doors in advance on Thanksgiving Day this year, Black Friday in Columbus looked like most other shopping days close to Christmastime, except shoppers were out at 6 a.m.
Kim Moore got up at 2 a.m. and had left her home in Macon within an hour. She said she “forced” her friend Marsha Lane along. Neither of them are frequent Black Friday shoppers.
“Now, I can truly, honestly say people have lost their minds (over Black Friday),” Moore said. “Because until you’ve walked in someone’s shoes, you really can’t comment, but now I can. But, no, it really hasn’t been that bad. It’s a lot of fun talking to everyone around you.”
She and Lane were in line with about 50 other people outside Belk in Columbus this morning. They arrived in the parking lot at about 3:50 a.m. and waited in their car until they saw other people start to get in line.
The first person in line was Ashley McCoy of Brooksville. For her, Black Friday shopping is a yearly tradition. She has hit the stores in Columbus for the last six Black Fridays, she said.
She started the line outside Belk at 4:02 a.m. for the possibility of winning a $1,000 gift card. But she also just likes shopping on Black Friday, she said.
“(I like) the thrill of just standing out in the cold, trying to be the first one and just seeing what different deals they have,” she said.
As a veteran Black Friday shopper, McCoy knew the typical crowds were missing at Walmart, Belk, JCPenney and other big stores that usually attract spenders on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Now, she said, many stores open late on Thanksgiving, so they aren’t as busy on Black Friday.
She said she was at Walmart in Columbus on Thursday looking for deals there, and the crowd was so large a fight broke out between two women — one of the stranger things she has seen in her years of Black Friday shopping.
“(One) lady said she got there first, and then the other lady said, no, she got there first,” McCoy said. “Then the pushing started. But it looked like the lady in the red was going to win.”
Before anyone could “win,” a police officer broke up the fight, which was over the last hoverboard the store had in stock, McCoy said.
At Walmart this morning at about 5:30 a.m., though, the store was in order and seemed to be fully stocked on everything from toys to electronics, except hoverboards. While plenty of people were shopping, no one fought over the last of a particular product. Belk was also calm and orderly at 7 a.m., only an hour after opening.
But shoppers didn’t just wake up early for the sales at corporate chains.
Amber Pounders of Caledonia and her friend, Lauren Brown, made up the entire line sitting outside Reed’s at 7 a.m. They sat in fold-up chairs and were covered in blankets.
“I’ve got to get my son some Timberland boots,” Pounders said. “And then I’ve got to get the little one some moccasins,” she said, gesturing to her 3-month-old baby who had just peeked her face out from beneath the blankets covering her.
They had already been to Deep South Pout, which was giving away shirts and door busters to the first 50 people in line. Deep South Pout was still packed with people at 7 a.m.
Blair Ward, 14, was shopping there looking for T-shirts, sweaters and especially chokers, she said. She and her grandmother, Nina Steenstra, typically go shopping together on Black Friday, usually in Tuscaloosa or Tupelo. This year they decided to stay in Columbus. They were looking to shop for clothing for needy kids, they said.
“(We like) the excitement,” Steenstra said. “Starting the spirit of Christmas.”
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