Midnight Holiday Madness

The day after a hardy Thanksgiving meal is spent by most sitting and watching television with family, but for dedicated shoppers it’s spent running around retail stores.

Black Friday, known to many as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, is a day where people tend to hit the stores looking for the day’s biggest bargain.

For some Black Friday begins immediately after their Thanksgiving dinner, but for others the traditional dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes is substituted for whatever fast food restaurant is open in the parking lot of the store in which they have been waiting at for hours.

Cody Patten had been waiting since 9 a.m. in the front of Best Buy in Vacaville hoping to get a new laptop computer.

Patten said that it was his second time taking part in the Black Friday sales, and that the year before he managed to save $600 on a new television.

Lines of tents were set up along the perimeter of the Best Buy store, filled with shoppers hoping to save money on merchandise.

One could easily spot the experienced Black Friday shoppers because of the preparation they had taken to pack all the necessities to spend hours waiting for the store to open.

In Vacaville and for its surrounding cities one of the premiere Black Friday shopping centers are the Vacaville Premium Outlets, many of its stores opening as early as midnight on Thanksgiving.
The outlets tend to be popular on regular days, but nothing can compare to the amount of visitors they receive on the eve of Black Friday.

Parking lots are filled and so are the lots of every other store adjacent to the outlets. Police cars patrol the streets in front of and around the stores patrolling, citing vehicles that are illegally parked.

A quick look at the popular stores that are housed in Vacaville’s Premium Outlet shopping center and one can see where preparation was indeed a virtue.

The Coach and Nike outlet stores are two of the prime sources for Black Friday shoppers.

Stacy, a Sacramento resident, was in Vacaville having Thanksgiving dinner with relatives and when she decided to take part in the outlet shopping experience for the first time.

“As far as I can remember yes this is my first time (shopping on Black Friday), but I might have done it once before a long time ago,” she said.

While waiting in a long line at the Nike Outlet, Stacy said that she planned on saving 60 percent on her merchandise before she walked out the door.

Stacy admits that she is an avid shopper, but said that when it comes to Black Friday shopping it is important to do your homework before you wait in long lines at stores where you think you’re getting a bargain but you’re really not.

Black Friday continually ranks among the top as one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year, along with the Saturday before Christmas.