Thousands rush to save during Black Friday deals
Black Friday shoppers fill the checkout aisles at the Target store just after midnight Friday at Posner Park in Davenport, Florida
Rick Runion / Ledger Media Group
Rick Runion / Ledger Media Group
Published: Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 6:56 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 6:56 a.m.
DAVENPORT - Thousands of people in Polk County spent Friday morning after midnight keeping up with the "Joneses."
That's "Jones" as in the slang term for addict -- shopping addict.
More than 1,000 people rushed into just one store, the Target department store at the Posner Park shopping center in Davenport, when it opened at midnight, the earliest start for Black Friday in the chain's history.
It seemed like the start of a NASCAR race as scores of people grabbed red shopping carts and hurried toward the back of the store, where the electronics department had advertised several big Black Friday specials on flat-panel TVs, computers and other big-ticket items.
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" came the cry from one shopper.
Then came the multi-cart pileup as shoppers arrived at stacks of the heavily discounted TVs and other specials down the aisle from the entrance.
"Cameras! Straight ahead! Go! Go!" shouted one shopper who had already grabbed a 46-inch TV priced at $298.
That same TV brought sisters Beth-Ann and Jamie McCourt of Clermont to the Target store at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the first in line for the crack at Black Friday specials.
The McCourt sisters said they've shopped Black Friday for the past 13 years and frequently spent Thanksgiving night waiting in lines to be among the first in, but they objected to moving the starting time to midnight.
"I'm not happy. It ruins the Thanksgiving tradition," said Beth-Ann McCourt, 34. "I couldn't have dinner at home with my sister."
Target had previously opened for Black Friday as early as 4 a.m., store manager Nathan Messier said.
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