They came, they saw, they conquered. And then they disappeared...Most shoppers took advantage of the early hours Target and other stores instituted this Black Friday.
"Four years, we've been doing this four years. This has probably been the most chaotic, though."
Heather Power-Smith has been shopping since early last night to find an MP3 player...and it took all night to get it, with other stops at Toyrs R Us, Wal-Mart and GameStop.
Early openings seemed to be the trend this Black Friday. Toys R Us began their Black Friday frenzy at 9:00 Thursday night, Best Buy followed at 10:00 and then Target at midnight.
"It was due to a lot of guest feedback," explains Store Manager Brian Jablonsky. "Our guests really wanted to come out and be able to come earlier so that way they didn't have to go to bed and get up earlier. And also to be competitive with the market."
Crowds died down as the morning light crept in through the windows, but at midnight Jablonsky says a crowd of 3,000 was clamoring to get in. Thankfully, GPD was on hand to prevent any trampling mishaps with the crowd.
"I believe this year was a little bit stronger turnout," Jablonsky says. "We compare basically how far the lines stretch and our line actually did stretch further this year than it did last year. So that was a great sign to show how things kicked off for our Black Friday this year."
Target doesn't have the numbers yet, but judging from appearances, it looks like predictions for an improved Black Friday weren't far off.