Shoppers pour into stores
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NILES -- Those who find Black Friday shopping stressful usually like to make their rounds to specific stores for deals, find gifts for loved ones, and leave stores and malls as quickly as possible.
For others who make an annual tradition out of Black Friday shopping, spending all day in the Eastwood Mall and moving through bunches of people, provides all the more fun in it. That includes the "Fisher Girls," eight ladies and girls in Santa hats and matching T-shirts.
"We stood in line at Kohl's at 4 a.m., and then we got in at 5 a.m. We'll be out here until we're done, until it's dark," Diane Goodwin of Middlefield.
It was the family tradition, now at 19 years, that brought her and seven other members of the family to the mall. Goodwin and her sister Linda Humphrey, the founders of the Fisher Girls, were accompanied by their daughters Colleen Smith and Jennifer Fekete, and their granddaughters Ellie Smith, 11, Emma Smith, 13, Andi Fekete, 9, and Reagan Fekete, 12.
While the group said they don't get any special deals because of their outfits, they said "everybody just says we look cute."
"Kohl's had a giveaway for a chance to win Legos, so that was why we chose that store," Goodwin said. Other than that, the shopping strategy is: "We're headed to one end of the mall, and then we'll come back up. Just whatever strikes somebody."
Patty Arnett came out of H&M with her daughter and son and said she was tired and ready to go home. And that the kids were who got her out of the house.
"I started at 4:30," Arnett said. "I got some sweaters, toys for the grandkids and jackets. It's been great while since I've done it with the kids," she said. "The difference was a little bit more money in the pocket I guess. But I'm very tired and ready to go.
With more shopping to do, she added that the group would continue going "out and about."
In the Boscov's parking lot, Dougle Hankins made his way to an already packed trunk with more bags to stuff inside. He and his wife took two foreign exchange students from Brazil and Spain, plus one of their sisters, to the mall complex for holiday spending.
"This is the first time they've ever been Black Friday shopping," Hankins of Howland said. "My wife does a lot of the Christmas shopping, so I guess I'm the typical dad / husband that has no idea what they got for Christmas until they open it. But this is like the one day in the year that I'm actually willing to go out shopping with her. And as you can see, I'm kind of like the pack mule. I have to take everything back to the car so we're not carrying it around and stuff."
Hankins said he has four children, and his youngest is 23.
"They don't go Black Friday shopping with us," he added. "We used to love Black Friday shopping when our kids were younger and before everything was on the internet. We were those crazy people at Target at 3 a.m. standing in a line outside. We had fun with it."
As a fan of the earlier Black Friday store hours of the past, Hankins said that his car was mostly filled with home goods from Boscov's. He also said that he is more of a "Best Buy guy."
"I'm heading over to Best Buy because they have some pretty good deals on TVs and laptops. We got here at about 6 a.m. I'm ready for one of the restaurants to open so I can go have a bowl of soup, and maybe a beer."
Joe Bell, Cafaro Company director of corporate communications said "In terms of deals, I'm told there were quite a lot of them," he said. "Some that seemed really hot were H&M had everything 30% off, even items already on sale. At JD Sports, it was 25% off storewide. Old Navy had pajama pants on sale for just $5."
Express also had a 50% off everything sale, American Eagle 30% to 40% off everything, and Rue 21 up to 80% off the entire store.
BASS PRO SHOPS
The new Bass Pro Shops store in Howland Commons opened last Wednesday, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and customers have not stopped flooding in, one employee said.
Alvin Carrol, senior group sales manager, said, "We had to have some extra people go up (to the register) a couple of times, but the line has been pretty steady."
Chance Miller of Weathersfield said he came to see extravagant deals and because the store just opened up.
"It's winter season so I'm looking for heavier stuff," he said. "Probably jackets, Carhartt, everybody loves Carhartt. We were already at the mall around 9 a.m. and I'm really just looking for things for myself."
dnewman@tribtoday.com