Sierra Mountain Times

Story by Jerry Whitehead

Photos by Greg Kristapovich

Unidentified shoppers make their way into Wal-Mart for the 5 a.m. opening.

The dust has settled. The smoke has cleared. The cash registers have quieted and the receipts with insane deals printed all over them have all fallen to the ground. Black Friday – the name given to the day after Thanksgiving and the largest retail shopping day of the year – has come and gone, and a record amount of shoppers took advantage of the numerous sales and deals to be had.

Nationwide, American consumers spent an estimated $10.3 billion on Friday, Nov. 23, up approximately 8.3 percent from last year’s mark of $9.5 billion. Interestingly, more and more shoppers are choosing to avoid dealing with the hectic and stressful crowds and doing their Black Friday shopping online. Nielsen tracked 120 of the largest online retailers and found that 21.2 million unique users visited the sites, up about 10 percent from last year’s 19.2; those 21.2 million spent over $531 million during their cyber shopping sprees.

While Tuolumne County doesn’t have the mega malls and gigantic retail centers that many larger cities do, Sonora’s stores weren’t immune from the Black Friday bug.

At the Wal-Mart in the Crossroads Shopping Center in East Sonora, people lined up as early as 7 p.m. Thursday evening to secure the top spot in line. Several shoppers were camped out and bundled up, eagerly awaiting the 5 a.m. opening. First in line was 12-year-old Brian Motter of Columbia, who went straight to the videogames section when the doors finally flung open. A kind lady was seen passing out cupcakes to those in the Wal-Mart line, and Ralph Souza Sr. – the owner of the Ralph’s World Diner located in the same shopping center – pushed a coffee cart around, handing out free cups and dining coupons to the restaurant. Ralph’s World kindly opened their doors at 3:30 a.m. to give waiting consumers a chance to get something warm in their system before a full day of shopping and battling with crowds.

Just across the way at the Mervyns department store, the doors opened at the ridiculously early hour of 4 a.m., while the office superstore Staples had deals of its own and opened at 6 a.m. Stores in the Junction Shopping center, such as TJ Maxx, Gottschalks and even the Mountain Bookshop, didn’t see quite the crowds as their Crossroads counterparts, but all saw larger than normal crowds.

So the Holiday Shopping Season is now in full effect, and as of the publishing date of this issue (Nov. 30, 2007), there are only 24 shopping days left until Christmas. So if you didn’t battle the cold temperatures and elbow your way past fellow shoppers on Black Friday and finish up all your shopping lists, there’s still plenty of time. But you’d better get going; Old Saint Nick and his special day have an uncanny knack of sneaking up quickly…

Protected against the bone-chilling temperatures with heavy sleeping bags and blankets, die-hard shoppers await Staples 6 a.m. opening.

To some shoppers, like Connie Degen of Jamestown, getting the deals on Black Friday has become an addiction. “I’m addicted to it,” she admits. “We come every year. It’s a tradition!” Degan arrived at Mervyns at 2:15 a.m. for the 4 a.m. opening (the first time they have opened this early), and was first to lead shoppers into to the store to get their free $10 shopping card. All the cards were handed out within ten minutes.

A true Black Friday die-hard, Brain Motter of Columbia, waits in front of Wal-Mart.
“I got here yesterday at 7 p.m.,” said Motter as he waits for Wal-Mart’s 5 a.m. opening. “I have two jackets, sweatpants and double wool socks.” When first approached, Brian was completely covered with a heavy blanket. The energetic 12-year-old then led the pack into the store, maneuvering his shopping cart toward the video games department.

Connie Degan of Jamestown leads the pack into Mervyns for the 4 a.m. opening.