Black Friday Shoppers Eager for Savings, and the Experience
After reading news reports of bargain-crazed mobs trampling their fellow shoppers in a rush for the last 46-inch flat screen on the shelves on Black Friday, Purchase resident Julia Coash and her cousin, Nicole Rioseco, thought they came to the City Center Target prepared. They donned protective gear on their heads, with the Target logo taped to their helmets for good measure.
When they arrived, though, they found that their shot at getting one of the deals they wanted was slim to none. The line wrapped around several levels, with thousands of people lining the parking garage walls by the time the store opened at midnight. Instead of waiting on the long line, they decided to become spectators.
“We’ve never had the Black Friday experience. We figured places like Target or Walmart would be the funniest places to go,” Coash said. “We ended up just coming here, and we thought people watching would be great.”
For the thousands of shoppers outside White Plains stores Thursday night, many of whom spent their Thanksgiving evenings in line instead of at the dinner table, the sentiment was similar. People weren’t just there for the savings; they were looking for a story to tell.
“Black Friday is crazy and I love it,” exclaimed Mercedes Dukes, who came to Walmart at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday and by 12:30 a.m., after hours of standing in the cold, was nearly at the front of the line to enter the store.
“We’re from the Bronx,” Dukes, in the company of seven friends and family members, explained as she waited for the chance to buy the two 32-inch TVs on her wish list. “We came in a minivan with no seats. We all piled in.”
While Walmart’s deals began at 10 p.m., Target opened its doors two hours later. As
midnight approached, Malika Boyd found herself in a place many envied – the front of the line.
“We got here about 3:30,” Boyd said. “I had gone to Best Buy first, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Best Buy’s line was around the corner.”
Boyd spent the next nine hours standing outside Target, taking turns with friends, so that she could get the Westinghouse 46-inch flat screen TV, normally around $550, for just $298.
“It’s worth it,” she said.
White Plains residents Adriana Berlingo and Bobby Diforio arrived after 11:30 p.m. hoping to get an iPod touch and an Xbox. With thousands of people in line ahead of them, Berlingo acknowledged it was unlikely there would be any left on the shelves by the time they made it into the stores.
“We tried to get the deals, but we never thought there would be 2,000 people standing in line to get into Target,” she said. “I think it’s fun, still. We’re still laughing about it.”
“This is our first time doing it,” Berlingo added. And probably, she acknowledged, her last.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.