Black Friday

This year, many of the stores started Black Friday on Thursday evening.  Toys R Us opened at 9 pm, Walmart's first sale began at 10 pm, and many stores including Target, Kohl's & Shopko opened at midnight.  As a result, instead of getting up early to go Black Friday shopping this year, we just never went to bed.  We arrived at Walmart around 9:30 pm and kicked off the evening. 

We hit Shopko when they opened at midnight, then headed into Sears where we waited until they opened at 4 am.  One of the local news stations showed up shortly before the store opened to cover the story, but neither of the couples in front of us in line wanted to be interviewed.  I took one for the team and agreed to the interview so the poor guy didn't have to keep going down the line.  I was emailed the following news story later in the evening.

Utahns stay up for Black Friday deals
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November 25th, 2011 @ 8:44am
SALT LAKE CITY  For a whole lot of people, getting in on a really good holiday shopping deal is worth staying up late for or, in some cases, up all night.
Customers waiting in line at Sears near downtown Salt Lake City were quite good-natured about being among the throngs who were ready to make the "mad dash" into shopping nirvana when the store officially opened at 4 a.m.
Nearly a thousand people formed a long, meandering line from the main entrance that wrapped around the building. Then, just as the clock approached the magic hour, several shoppers unexpectedly began rushing in from a side entrance, prompting a mild panic from the store manager. Luckily, disaster was averted when security personnel was able to gain control and the crowd was allowed to orderly make its way into the various departments.
One of the first people in line was Becky Vinberg, who drove in from Centerville with her husband, in an adventure that started late Thursday night.
"We actually got here at 1 o'clock," she said with a bright smile. "We got to Walmart for their 10 o'clock sale, then we were at Shopko when they opened at midnight and were here by 1 a.m."
It's just fun and you really do get a lot of really good deals and save a lot of money.“Becky Vinberg
She said they bought "random stuff" at each stop and were coming to Sears for tools. And while there was some method to her shopping madness, it was mostly a continuation of a holiday tradition that her family has enjoyed "every year since I was 15," the 30-something Davis County resident explained.
"It's just fun and you really do get a lot of really good deals and save a lot of money," Vinberg said. The Vinberg shopping extravaganza would continue on as she and her husband headed for Smith's and Costco later, she said.

I got several calls and texts from people saying they had seen me on the evening news.  It was quite the day.  After we left Sears, we made a stop at Smith's before heading home to shower and change.  Once Jayson left for work, I headed over to pick up Eaen and the two of us went to Costco.  We met my mom and Mindi at Bath & Body Works, then caught a bite to eat and made quick stops at Toys R Us and Nordstrom Rack before we arrived home at 1 pm for a nap.  When Jayson got home from work, we stopped at Famous Footwear then headed into the Gateway mall.  We finished our evening with stops at Verizon and Fanzz and a look at the tree.  Not a bad shopping day after all!