Valley shoppers rush for Black Friday deals

Posted at 08:45 AM on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

Thousands of people across the Valley stayed up late or awoke early to seek Black Friday shopping deals on the day after Thanksgiving.

They ranged from the crowds that jammed Fashion Fair mall's first-ever midnight opening to the few diehards who ate their Thanksgiving meal while camped outside Best Buy.

Shoppers began lining up outside Fashion Fair at 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, though the crowds were sparse until about an hour before the mall opened, marketing manager Kelly Tallant said.

A radio station broadcasting live and free coffee and doughnuts greeted shoppers -- mostly teens and young adults -- who lined up outside the mall’s main entrance. Another line stretched from Forever 21’s outside entrance, past JCPenney to the food court entrance.

The doors to the main entrance opened about 11:45 p.m., a decision made for security reasons.

“The plan was to let them in at midnight, but there was such a strong response,” Tallant said.

As the doors opened, shoppers rushed -- some ran -- to line up outside the stores they wanted to get into.

Sisters Veronique Werz, 17, and Janna Melkonian, 19, of Fresno had been waiting outside the mall since 8:30 p.m. Werz was nursing an aching rib after the crowd pushed her into the mall door.

The sisters were among the first of a large crowd to flood into Forever 21 through its inside entrance, knocking the occasional top or earrings off the racks.

“I’ve never seen it like this before,” said Werz, who was buying gifts mostly for others, along with a few things for herself.

She scored several deals on sweaters and long-sleeve tops at Forever 21 before heading to Wet Seal, where she took advantage of a deal that included buying one pair of $20 jeans and getting a second for 1 cent more.

Fashion Fair executives estimated the crowds at the mall reached “well into the thousands” and the north side of the parking lot was nearly full. Tallant said the mall seemed about twice as busy as the Saturday before Christmas — one of the busiest days for mall foot traffic — in the time period shortly after midnight.

Some stores, like Anchor Blue, were jam-packed customers, while crowd-shy boyfriends and fathers waited for shoppers outside the store. Around 1 a.m., the Disney store was limiting the number of people who entered so it wouldn't exceed its capacity. A line of about 50 people waited to get in.

Although most stores were open, a small group of people gathered to wait outside the few businesses that did not open at midnight, including the Apple store and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Martha De Leon and her 15-year-old daughter, Alex, of Fresno, waited outside the Apple store. The pair planned to shop all through the pre-dawn hours, hitting Old Navy at 3 a.m. and JCPenney at 4 a.m.

“We come every year,” Martha De Leon said. “This is a family tradition.”

Across town at the Fresno Best Buy, shoppers started even earlier.

Diana Mendoza, 23, of Pismo Beach and her Fresno family members were second in line. They had taken turns waiting in line outside the store since 3:30 a.m. Thursday.

It’s a yearly tradition for the family, which has camped outside the store for the last seven years. The family ran an extension cord from a car to their spot to power a computer and radio. Porta-potties acted as bathrooms for the approximately 180 people in line at 2 a.m. today.

Mendoza had a Thanksgiving meal not at her house, but on the sidewalk outside the store: “My mom brought plates of turkey, stuffing, green beans and a pumpkin pie.”