BLACK FRIDAY: Locals shop early, love the chaos

Editor's Note: See reports from throughout the morning below.

The big spending day began before dawn. Nothing could stop the hordes of bargain hunters determined to jump-start the holiday shopping season.

The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday because it’s the day that retailers hope to pound their way into the profit margin.

By 4:15 a.m., the Old Navy on North Powers Boulevard had a full parking lot and customers lined up dozens-deep at cash registers.

“It’s a fun challenge,” shopper Nicole Cappiello said. “And buying coats for three kids for $15 instead of $50 is fun, too.”

At the J.C. Penney store off Powers, manager Teri Putman had every staff member on the clock.

“We’re doing very well today,” she said. “Better than expected.”

Retailers know they are working in what comedian Rodney Dangerfield would call “a tough room.”

A recent survey by the College of Business and Administration at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs found 6.9 percent of shoppers contacted expected to spend more than last year. The telephone survey of 481 people in September found most (56.8 percent) plan to spend about the same amount and 36.4 percent planned to spend less.

THRILL OF THE HUNT

Shopping statistics, however, don’t begin to describe the psychology of what drives people to wait in line for hours before sales begin.

At Wal-Mart in Woodland Park, Black Friday’s lure was electronics for Michelle and Danny Lanham of Fountain. The couple arrived at 2 a.m., with Danny taking his place in the computer line and Michelle in video games.

“It’s all about the hunt,” she said. “I like to find things for the cheapest possible price, and buy it before anyone else does.”

SHOPPING: CONTACT SPORT

When the doors opened at the Super Target on North Powers Boulevard, Mark Bauer sprinted through them like an unopposed linebacker. He’d waited in line more than an hour to sate his desire for a 40-inch flat-screen TV.

Bauer got the TV and hauled it to the check-out. “It’s a Christmas present for myself,” he said.

Lynda Kohler was first in line at Kohl’s in south Colorado Springs. But when the doors opened at 4 a.m., she had competition from hundreds behind her.

She loped through the aisles like a border collie in an agility trial, making hairpin turns and weaving here and there, even climbing up a shelf to reach a toy for a grandkid.

The cash register looked like a Las Vegas slot machine, numbers flashing like a jackpot. Kohler plunked down $133.84. The receipt said she saved $187.26.

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

Black Friday shopping trumps sleep for the MacNicol family.

They started at 10 p.m. Thursday at Outlets at Castle Rock, rolled into Best Buy at 3 a.m., shopped through sunrise at Chapel Hills Mall and by noon had hit many other stores.

Every year, they plot the strategy on Thanksgiving Day like skilled bank robbers masterminding a heist.

At stores, Dean MacNicol, the patriarch, holds a place in line and his three accomplices scramble for the loot to pile in his cart. They have until he reaches the register. “They need to stop at that point. We need to move on to the next store,” he said.

“I think there are less crowds this year, for sure,” said his daughter-in-law, Brandy MacNicol.

Mary Burdis and Dave Kleckner got more than they bargained for at Costco on North Nevada Avenue, where they intended to just look at the TVs in the ad.

But they couldn’t resist the deal on a 55-inch HDTV.

“It was a lot less than what we were going to spend,” she said, “and a lot bigger.”

“We’re going to have to get a bigger house,” he said.

The spirit of spending wasn’t limited to consumption.

At the Chapel Hills Mall Macy’s exit, Corrine Vasquez spent Friday ringing a bell for the Salvation Army.

She offered a friendly greeting to those who hurried by. She thanked those who paused to feed the red kettle. Some folded bills into the slot. Some dropped in coins.

“It doesn’t matter what they put in,” she said, “as long as they put something in.”

— Andrea Brown, Mark Barna, Carol McGraw, Tom Roeder and Perry Swanson contributed to this story.

HERE'S A LOOK AT BLACK FRIDAY IN THE PIKES PEAK REGION

3:50 a.m.:

Autos and SUVs zipped down the hill to the Wal-Mart parking lot in Woodland Park.

Black Friday sales wouldn’t begin till 5 a.m., but these early risers were OK with that. They wanted to secure their place in one of the several lines inside the store, which is open 24 hours, to be sure to take home their prize.

For Michelle and Danny Lanham of Fountain, the prize was electronic. The couple arrived at 2 a.m., with Danny taking his place in the computer line and Michelle in the video game line. Why did they leave Fountain?  Michelle said their local Wal-Mart was too crowded.

Michelle’s spirits were high at this early hour.

“It’s all about the hunt,” she said. “I like to find things for the cheapest possible price, and buy it before anyone else does.”

Donna Ribisi and her 13-year-old son Chad arrived at Wal-Mart at 2:30 a.m. to secure their spot in the video game line.

Every year on Black Friday, the Colorado Springs resident spends about 16 hours doing what she loves: shopping. She’ll buy all her Christmas gifts today in one spending frenzy. Like the Lanhams, Ribisi came to Woodland Park because she wanted to avoid the crowds.

“My husband thinks I’m nuts, but I think it’s really fun,” Ribisi said.

--Mark Barna

4: 15 a.m.:

By now, scores more people were arriving at Wal-Mart in Woodland Park. Sipping large coffees, Jim and Laurie Adler of Woodland Park hoped to buy a 32-inch Sony TV. They said this was the first time they’d been up before dawn to shop.

“People think we’re crazy,” Jim Adler said, “but the price is good. And with the economy the way it is, it’s wise to save when you can.”

--Mark Barna

4:15 a.m.:

By 4 a.m., it looked like rush hour on Powers Boulevard as hundreds of bargain hunters flooded stores.

The Old Navy at Powers Boulevard and Carefree Circle had a full parking lot and customers lined up dozens-deep at cash registers.

Shopper Nicole Cappiello said the big draw at the clothing retailer was a bargain on coats and $10 jeans for children.

But competition to get to the bargains was fierce.

“It’s a fun challenge,” Cappiello said. “And buying coats for three kids for $15 instead of $50 is fun, too.”

--Tom Roeder

4:40 a.m.:
Ted Stiles held a place in the checkout line, standing watch over a Dyson vacuum cleaner, at Kohl’s in southwest Colorado Springs while his wife ran back to get one more item.

“I don’t have any idea how much it cost,” he said. “I didn’t purchase it for her. I’ve learned that you never buy anything for your wife that plugs in." He laughed. “This is our first stop, but I’m afraid it won’t be our last.”
--Carol McGraw

5 a.m.:

When the doors opened at the Super Target on North Powers Boulevard, Mark Bauer sprinted through like an unopposed linebacker.

He’d been waiting for more than an hour, at the head of a block-long line, to sate his desire for a flat-screen television.

“It’s $150 off,” he said of the 40-inch model he was hoping to grab. “You can’t beat that.”

The Target was quickly filled with hundreds like Bauer who packed aisles lines with electroninics and mobbed the clothing racks. Carefully-constructed displays were swiftly torn asunder and bargain items lay strewn on the floor.

For this single-minded crowd, shopping holds the same allure that football does for some.

“Really, my Christmas shopping is done,” admitted shopper Joan Dewitt. “It’s sad, but I’m here for the excitement.”

Bauer got the television and hauled it to the check-out.

“It’s a Christmas present for myself,” he said.
--Tom Roeder

5 a.m.:
Marissa Edgerton patiently stood in line waiting for a Target in south Colorado Springs to open. The wait, she said, is nothing. “I was at Toys R Us last night at 11:30 p.m., and got four toys and had to stand in line two-and-a-half hours to check out.”
--Carol McGraw

5:40 a.m.:
Jodi Maxwell stood at the end of a cashier's line at Target on Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard. At least 130 people were ahead of her.

“I got up at 3 a.m. I really overslept,” she said. She had just purchased an “Extreme Seat" (a lounger with plug-ins for electronics) for her daughter Christina’s boyfriend, Brent Voorhees. Brent smiled. “Yeah, I know what my gift is going to be.”

Maxwell said she has shopped Black Friday for 20 years. “I look through the ads, but it really isn’t about the bargains. I like the challenge of trying to get all this stuff. The frantic pace."

5:45 a.m.:

What recession?

Managers had wide grins at the J.C. Penney store off North Powers Boulevard.  After battling more than a year of faltering consumer spending, it seemed Friday morning that wallets were finally opening.

The retailer had a line out the door by 3 a.m. and most of the “Door Buster” bargains had been snapped up an hour later.

Yet the shoppers kept piling in.

“This day is so important to us, we’ve been getting ready since October,” said store manager Teri Putman, who had every worker on her staff on the clock long before dawn.

“We’re doing very well today,” she said. “Better than expected.”

--Tom Roeder

6:30 a.m.:

Electronics retailer Best Buy opened at 5 a.m. and it was still impossible to park within a quarter-mile of the store off Powers Boulevard at 6:30 a.m.

Videogames and computers were the big draw, said customer Chris White, who scored a $299 X-Box package.

For White and his family, early morning shopping is a family tradition on the day after Thanksgiving.

“I’ve been up all night,” he said. “I’m just ready for this.”

Like many of the shoppers, White was on a tour of American consumerism with the goal of getting all his holiday shopping done by sunrise.

He’s dropping a few extra bucks this year, a personal symbol of economic improvement.

“It’s better than it was a couple of years ago,” he said.
--Tom Roeder

7:15 a.m.:

In Fountain, Black Friday was busy, but more civilized than the scene to the north. Eager shoppers were out, but not the rock-concert crowds seen elsewhere.

At Lowe’s, a home-improvement retailer off Mesa Ridge Parkway, employee Dave Rowles was in the parking lot hawking clearance-priced appliances.

“It’s been busy,” he said.

Inside the store, men drooled over sale-priced power tools. Just about every customer seemed to be carting a discount shop vacuum – priced at $29, down from $79.

The big movers for Lowe’s, though, were Christmas decorations, Rowles said.

From the customers at check-out, it looks like every house in Fountain will have an awesome display of Christmas lights.
--Tom Roeder

7:40 a.m.:
At the Wal-Mart on 8^th Street in Colorado Springs, hundreds of shoppers were swarming

Missouri residents Doreen and Bob Trammell, visiting their son and his family in the Springs, spent about $250 on Christmas presents for their grandchildren, ages 2 and 3.

“That’s it, we’re done shopping,” Doreen Trammel said, as her husband pushed the loaded shopping cart across the parking lot. “Now it’s time for site seeing.”
--Mark Barna

7:45 a.m.:
Cathy Whetstone and a full shopping cart are parked by men’s clothing at Gordman's in south Colorado Springs. She was waiting for her three adult daughters to finish shopping. “Where did I just come from? I’m not sure. I’m tired. I’m ready to go home. I got up before 3 a.m. Oh, I remember, we had breakfast at Denny's after hitting Wal-Mart.”

The four always shop together on Black Friday. “We don’t have many surprises for each other Christmas morning as a result.”

Her favorite gifts, however, are Christmas cards from her kids and grandkids. “It means that they really had to carefully pick them out, not just throw stuff into the cart running down the aisles.”
--Carol McGraw

7:45 A.M.:
Suzy Slobodou stood, waiting for her husband and son to finish looking at a $179 tool set on sale for $99 at Sears in south Colorado Springs.

“I usually go shopping with women better. We are more organized and buy stuff and get going to the next place. These guys take forever.”

“We’re behind schedule," she added. "I want to hit the mall and Powers corridor before noon.”
--Carol McGraw

8 a.m.:
Starbucks on Cheyenne Meadows opened at 4:30 a.m. to fuel pre-dawn shoppers. When a clerk arrived at 4 a.m. there was a line of people waiting for a hit of caffeine.
--Carol McGraw

8:10 a.m.:
Tawana Batten and her 11-year-old son, Dwayne, started their shopping day at 5 a.m., first hitting a Home Depot, then a GameStop and now Wal-Mart on 8^th Street. Their shopping cart was filled with Christmas decorations.

Dwayne said he was tired but excited by the early-morning shopping foray. He said his favorite store had been GameStop, a video-game retailer.

“I got what I wanted, and my mom got what she needed,” Dwayne said, laughing.
--Mark Barna

8:15 a.m.:

Shopping this morning has been relatively crime-free, but police fear that may not last.

Colorado Springs police Lt. David Whitlock said the holiday season brings out thieves who scout through parking lots looking for loot-filled cars and loosely-carried purses.

“It’s a good time to remind people they need to be diligent,” Whitlock said.

The early morning hours brought a few squabbles at stores as shoppers battled over sales, but nothing serious.

To keep crime at bay, Whitlock said shoppers should keep their purchases out of view in their cars and be wary when walking though parking lots.

“We don’t recommend carrying much cash,” Whitlock said.
--Tom Roeder

8:15 a.m.:

Patti Logan, in line at Office Depot at Broadmoor Towne Center, was doing quite well, thank you, in spite of having started the day at 4 a.m. chasing a herd of her neighbor’s horses that had gotten loose. She drove the two hours from Westcliffe to get in on two bargains: a $299 HDTV and a netbook.
--Carol McGraw

9 a.m.:

It’s the 11^thhour for the MacNicol family, who started at 10 p.m. Thursday at Outlets at Castle Rock, rolled into Best Buy at 3 a.m. and shopped past sunrise at Chapel Hills Mall.

Matriarch Barbara MacNicol rests her feet while husband Dean shuffles purchases between the couple's packed van and son Ryan’s SUV in the Target parking lot.

The family power shops like this every year, plotting the strategy on Thanksgiving Day like skilled bank robbers masterminding a heist.

Dean immediately holds a place in line and the three other MacNicols scramble for the loot on the lists. “By the time I work my way to the front of the line, that's when they're done. They need to stop at that point,” he said.

This year was easier. “I think there are less crowds this year, for sure,” said Brandy, his daughter-in-law.

They missed a few doorbusters, but not many.

“I easily spent about $1,500 so far and probably saved as much,” Brandy said.

"I spent close to $4,000 and probably saved $5,000,” Dean said.

Next stop for the foursome is breakfast, then Kohl’s, then… Within a few hours, they’ll have 90 percent of their holiday shopping done, much of it at 50 percent off.

Sleep can wait.

--Andrea Brown

9:45 a.m.:

Robert O’Hara was a man on a swift mission. He came after the doors opened at 9 a.m. at the Nevada Avenue Costco, bought two digital photo frames for gifts and a box of logs for himself.

“This is it, I’m going home,” he said.

Mary Burdis and Dave Kleckner carefully squeezed a 55-inch HDTV plus stand in their SUV.

They came to Costco to look, not buy.

“It was a lot less than what we were going to spend," she said, "and a lot bigger."

“We’re going to have to get a bigger house,” he said.

--Andrea Brown

11 a.m.:

It’s gridlock getting in and out of the Chapel Hills Mall parking lot. Inside, it’s congested in certain areas.

Luann Armenta and her sister, Phyllis Brito, are at the back of a long line of shoppers getting a $10 gift card for spending $100 at the mall.

“I have more time than money,” Brito said.

"This will pay for lunch," Armenta said.

--Andrea Brown

Noon 

It's the first day on the job for Corrine Vasquez, who stands outside Macy’s ringing a bell for the Salvation Army. She started at 8 a.m. and by noon hadn’t lost any steam.

She cheerfully thanks those who drop coins and bills in the red kettle, and offers a friendly greeting to those who don't.

“It doesn’t matter what they put in," she said, "as long as they put something in."

--Andrea Brown