Line was ‘too long’ for one Black Friday shopper

UPDATE @2:17 p.m.

Tim Borsvold, general manager at the new Costco in Centerville, said Black Friday is “going as great as we could ever have hoped for.”

“Door counts have been very high,” he said.

One of the hot items was the Samsung 4k curve television, marked down from $2,800 to $2,000.

Borsvold said shortly before noon that the store had already sold six of seven of the TVs.

“Some of the items we’ve sold out of very quickly,” he said.

Shopper Laura Molchan, of Kettering, said she didn’t have to wait too long at the Kmart on Dorothy Lane, but she left without buying anything at Kohl’s.

“I’m not going to wait two hours in a line to buy something. I don’t need it that bad,” Molchan said.

UPDATE @1:30 p.m.

While stores may not have been as busy early this morning as on previous Black Fridays, parking lots were filling up quick by the early afternoon.

WHIO’s Rachel Murray reports that the Cincinnati Outlets Mall in Monroe was very busy. Some motorists opted to wait for departing shoppers rather than search for open parking spots.

UPDATE @10:15 a.m.:

Shara Evans said the shopping has been great at Toys R Us, Target and the major stores at the Fairfield Commons Mall.

“It’s been delightful,” she said. “There’s not been very many crowds and people have been friendly and it’s been a nice surprise.”

She said the most exciting moment of the morning came at the shoe department at Elder Beerman.

“It was just a mess,” she said. “It was a mad house.”

Jill Morris of Centerville said she couldn’t break from tradition and started her shopping day on Black Friday.

“I like to spend time with my family on Thanksgiving and have always started today. It’s more tradition for me,” Morris said.

Tom and Gina Kuntz were finishing their shopping spree around 9 a.m. today. The couple had been out since 5 p.m.

“We started out at Best Buy and only stopped for breakfast around 3 a.m. People call us crazy, but it’s something we like to do,” Gina Kutz said.

UPDATE @ 9:57 a.m.:

Lisa Sites said she and her daughter have been heading out for Black Friday deals for the last 12 to 13 years.

They even wear special outfits for the occasion.

“We have different outfits, we change it up,” Sites said in between stores Friday morning. “We come out for the day and enjoy the time together with our lists for our families and extended families and we enjoy the day together.”

Lisa said they hadn’t had to deal with any long lines.

“We just came out of Kohl’s and we only had to wait a minute. Usually it’s 15 minutes that we’ve had to wait before,” she said.

UPDATE @ 8:16 a.m.: Some parking lots and stores are not as crowded as in years' past, but some folks are waiting in the cold to get their chance at Black Friday discounts.

About 60 people are lined up outside Best Buy near the Fairfield Commons. The store is controlling the number of shoppers inside the store and people are being allowed in as shoppers exit.

Some shoppers reported having no problems finding parking.

One shopper said she was surprised how close she was able to near the entrance at the Fairfield Commons.

She said it’s “not like the way it used to be,” thinking that there were fewer shoppers because stores were open on Thanksgiving Day.

Across the street from Fairfield Commons, parking was not so easy at Kohl’s. The lot is packed with vehicles.

UPDATE @ 11:15 p.m.: The shopping was strong throughout much of the Dayton area, especially at the Best Buy in Fairborn where checkout lines snaked through the store.

UPDATE @ 7:45 p.m.: David Canup of Dayton showed up at Best Buy in Fairborn just before noon.

When asked why he decided to wait in line, Canup said, “I’m asking myself the same question right now, but it’s a really good deal. It’s worth waiting in line for a few hours.”

Canup said it’s his first time taking part in Thanksgiving Day shopping and he was surprised to see a dozen people in line, some of them in tents.

“I wouldn’t have done the all night thing,” he said.

As of 2 p.m. there weren’t any shoppers lined up outside of Toys R Us in Fairborn, although workers were outside putting up signs and yellow tape in anticipation of a crowd.

Charla Robson from Springfield sat in her van with her boyfriend and oldest son, staying warm instead of standing outside, but still waiting for the doors to open.

“This is my first year. My boyfriend does a lot of Black Friday shopping so I told him I’d go with him to try it out. I think it’s boring right now, I’m doing homework,” Robson said.

She said the store opening at 5 p.m. was a little ridiculous.

“People are just sitting down to eat. It is crazy. But I do think it’s okay to open on Thanksgiving night,” Robson said, adding that she and her family had their Thanksgiving meal Wednesday.

FIRST REPORT

Venus C. Miller normally puts a turkey in the oven before dawn on Thanksgiving Day and goes back to sleep.

But this morning, the 60-year-old Kettering woman waited in line with her friend Gary D. Buckner before 6 a.m. to save big on an Element large-screen TV sold at the Meijer store in Kettering.

“First day ever on a Thanksgiving shopping,” Miller said. “I’ve gotten up this early before just to put my turkey in and go back to bed.”

The two were among customers who flocked into the store to grab deals on large screen TVs and electronic gadgets like iPads in a rush for savings.

“I usually go hunting Thanksgiving morning but this year there were other plans,” Buckner said.

Kettering shopper, Tamiya London, got in line at 1 a.m. inside Meijer to make sure she got a smart TV at a bargain price.

Another shopper, Ronda Carnal, waited in line to buy a TV for herself.

Store Director Mike Burkhart said customers who wanted savings on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPads and the large screen TV drew more early morning shoppers than last Thanksgiving morning.

Many customers lined up before 6 a.m. waiting for cash registers to open.

Kmart also opened its doors at 6 a.m. to offer shoppers holiday deals. In Beavercreek, shoppers stood outside the store in below-freezing temperatures before rushing in to grab goods at low prices no longer exclusive to ‘Black Friday.’

Many other stores will launch their deals later this afternoon, at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.

As you begin your holiday shopping adventure, make sure you bring along your smartphone and our holiday shopping guide complete with store hours, deals, restaurant hours, and the latest traffic and weather conditions.

Join the holiday shopping conversation #shopdayton on Twitter and Facebook.