Black Friday shopping begins early in Gainesville

GAINESVILLE - Black Friday shoppers started on their Christmas lists several hours earlier this year as many retailers opened their doors at the stroke of midnight.

Among the stores that opened at 12:00 a.m. were Old Navy and Kohl's, located in adjacent shopping centers on Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville. The Kohl's location on Spout Springs Road in Flowery Branch, as well as the Target store in the same shopping center, opted for midnight openings. All of the stores had hundreds of customers waiting in line, many up to four hours before the retailers opened.

At the Target store on Shallowford Road in Gainesville, Jack Shelton of Toccoa said he really liked the idea of shopping at midnight instead of waiting until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. for the good deals.

"It's easier. I'm a night owl, so I'm normally going to sleep at three or four o'clock in the morning," said Shelton.

He said he had traveled from Toccoa to Gainesville in hopes of buying a $100 Nikon camera advertised by Target.

Turns out, the woman in line behind him was there for the same item. Not only that, but when Shelton and Heather Shramek began chatting in line, they found out they were distantly related to one another.

"We just got to talking and I told him I grew up in Toccoa and he was telling me who his family was...and it went from there," said Shramek. Turns out the two are fourth cousins.

Dustin Cain of Gainesville was another shopper awaiting the early opening of Target. He said he had eaten three Thanksgiving meals in preparation for a night of marathon shopping.

"We're full, we got a bunch of energy and we're ready to run," said Cain.

One retailer that didn't wait for Black Friday to start its Christmas shopping season was Wal-Mart. The big box retailer opted to open all day Thankgiving Day.

Kevin Elrod from Gainesville accompanied his wife to the Wal-Mart in Gainesville. Just after 10:00 p.m., he was getting ready to make his second trip into the store for the day. He said the experience had been a bit chaotic.

"Well, the signs aren't really up and it's just kind of crazy in there and everybody started ripping it apart [merchandise pallets], so you really don't know what you've got until you get to the register," he said.

Still, he said he liked the idea of early shopping. In fact, he was planning to shop all night.

"Well, we started here [Wal-Mart] and then we're gonna go to Target and then we're gonna go to Best Buy and J.C. Penney and Belk, and hopefully, we'll be done by the time I have to go to work in the morning."