Black Friday crowds turn out early

Standing in front of a line that seemed a mile long at Toys R Us in Cape Girardeau, Jane Poole considered herself lucky to have a ticket allowing her to purchase a Zhu Zhu hamster.

Poole, who was with some family members, arrived at the toy store shortly after 6:30 p.m. Thursday. By midnight the line stretched from in front of Toys R Us and adjoining stores and around the parking lot, ending near the stop light at Silver Springs Road and William Street.

Management handed out tickets to the first 100 households in line who wanted the opportunity to purchase the Zhu Zhu hamsters, a small interactive toy hamster that has become one of the most sought-after gift items this holiday shopping season.

"Knowing that I'm getting one of the hottest items of the year is pretty cool," Poole said. "It's like I have to scream woo-hoo!"

Like others who braved the freezing temperatures and long lines, Poole said Black Friday has become a tradition for her family.

"We get in the car and arrive early at the stores we want to shop at," she said. "It's become a fun outing for us."

While Poole arrived early Thursday evening at Toys R Us, another store had shoppers in line by 11 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. Customers pitched tents and settled into lawn chairs at Best Buy in hopes of having the opportunity to purchase computers, televisions, video game systems and movies at significant savings.

Best Buy employees handed out tickets at 3 a.m. today for certain items and by 5 a.m. the first customer entered the store.

Justin Day, who arrived in line around 5 p.m. Thursday with some friends, had a ticket to purchase a LCD HDTV.

"This is quite an upgrade, considering my other television was a standard one I got at a garage sale," Day said. "Christmas Eve will be my 16th birthday, so I'm making this a great one."

The National Retail Federation expects 134 million people to shop today through Sunday, an increase of 6 million shoppers from 2008. About 29 percent of those were expected to shop between 4 and 6 a.m. today, the federation said.

With unemployment at 10.2 percent and consumers with jobs watching every penny, shoppers like Jessie Davis said they took advantage of blockbuster deals to save as much money as possible on Christmas gifts.

"In the past I would never have dreamed of coming into all this madness so soon," said Davis, who had a shopping cart full of DVDs, Barbie Jeep and Robo Jam video game. "This year it's more about stretching every dollar."

Look for more later at semissourian.com and in Sunday's Southeast Missourian.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

Pertinent addresses:

3026 William St., Cape Girardeau, MO

210 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO