An early start to Black Friday

Black Friday has a certain energy. People waiting in lines outside stores jogged in place and jogged through the parking lot, just itching to get in and get that fervently sought-after item. The people waiting inside the stores are just as hyped for the doors to open.

"It's really weird," said Alan, a worker at Best Buy in Cape Gir?ardeau. Store policy does not allow the release of employee last names. "If it were any other time, they wouldn't be in such a good mood."

Target employee Michael Heise stood outside the store as shoppers hurried in Friday. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Despite their 2 a.m. arrival, every employee scheduled to open the store joked, laughed or sang along to one techie's cell phone playlist.

"It's a great time of year," said Joseph, another opening employee. "The customers, the atmosphere, everything."

Area stores have been preparing for the infamous shopping extravaganza for months. The National Retail Federation reported 132.9 million Americans will shop this weekend.

Stores have had staff meetings weeks in advance. Some even have special teams devoted to streamlining the process. And all of them have taken care of the staff.

The break room at Best Buy in had doughnuts piled on the table and a refrigerator full of energy drinks. Every employee on the roster was scheduled to work on the year's biggest shopping day, and every meal of the day was taken care of.

Clothing conglomerate J.C. Penney had food catered in all day for employees, too. The store opened at 4 a.m. and didn't close until 11 p.m. The store designates a sales support team that coordinates the seasonal shopping events like Black Friday.

They plan out how to keep the store clean, fill the shelves, determine the dress code for the holiday season and order food for the workers.

Store manager Sarah Grigaitis said they were trying to make it as easy on the employees as possible by providing food. That way, she said, no one would have to leave and managers could "let them sit down and rest and feed them."

Best Buy employees began distributing tickets for certain discounted items to the customers in line at 3 a.m. Friday. Scott Jones, right, received a ticket for an item that will be a Christmas gift for his daughter. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Grigaitis said lines at the registers were 30 people deep from 4 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m.

"It was craziness," she said. "I've worked for Penney's for 23 years, but this was exceptional."

Anna Wannamaker, a floor employee who was fixing a purse display, said the store was a wreck. "But people are buying," she said. "We can always clean up."

Grigaitis said some people partake in the after-Thanksgiving rush for the tradition of it. Others, she guessed, just wanted the deals.

With gas prices going up, she said, people are probably thinking, "I've got [money] now, let's get it while it's a good deal."

A Best Buy employee carried a wine cooler to a customer after the store's doors opened at 5 a.m. Friday. Many of the employees arrived up to three hours before opening to prepare for the rush of customers. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Most stores had doorbuster deals until certain times. Best Buy handed out tickets to people in line for certain items to guarantee its availability. When the doors finally opened, people rushed toward their select items, but no madness ensued.

"It's actually pretty docile," Joseph from Best Buy said. "They love how friendly we are, and they respond in the same way."

By midafternoon, store managers had lost count of the customers and the amount of merchandise sold from the stores. The retail federation estimated shoppers would spend $474.5 billion this holiday season.

charris@semissourian.com

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