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First State consumers line up to start holiday shopping

Shoppers wait for Best Buy in Dover to open at 5pm Thursday

The holiday shopping season in the First State and elsewhere kicked off with Black Friday.

Some Delawareans got started early Thanksgiving evening as stores began opening for the nation’s biggest shopping weekend.

Hundreds were waiting in below freezing temperatures for the Best Buy in Dover to open its doors at 5pm Thursday.

Dover’s Irene Seamans was among them. She had left directly after Thanksgiving dinner with her family.

“I want to get a Kindle 8. Mine has died so I’m hoping they’ll have it on sale. It was $80 now it’s down to $49.99—$30 savings,” said Seamans.

Seamans adds she waits in line each year for Black Friday deals and is glad stores have started opening on Thanksgiving instead of early Friday morning

“I don’t have to get out of bed so early,” she said. “But I have done it many years.”

Claymont’s Trish McDowell was also in line, though she says she doesn’t normally go out shopping for Black Friday.

She was disappointed to learn the store had sold out of the TV she was waiting for.

“They said they have ones that were comparable to it so I’m figuring there’s only like 15 minutes to wait so I figure I might as well check it out since I’ve been in the freezing cold forever,” said McDowell.

McDowell adds her family moved its Thanksgiving celebration to Saturday night.

“With Black Friday you have a lot of family members that work retail,” said McDowell.

More than 164 million consumers nationwide plan to shop over this year’s five-day Thanksgiving weekend, according to a National Retail Federation survey—that’s down 10 million from last year’s total count.

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