Some Shoppers Can't Wait Until After Thanksgiving To Hunt For Bargains
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Wal-Mart and Kmart have opened on Thanksgiving for some time now. What has changed over the years is the way they roll out deals. At Wal-Mart, they call it "The Blitz," and at Kmart, they call them "Doorbusters."
Those stores' big electronics sales started at 8 p.m. Thursday, but there were other bargains all day.
While Yasnira Liz and her family were out tying a bargain to the roof of the car, her aunt was back home trussing the turkey.
"We're all going to her house for Thanksgiving dinner," leaving them free to shop for early holiday bargains.
Aisles were filled at Kmart, with shoppers buying up items marked up to 50 percent off.
Audrey Akpan bought six or seven pairs of shoes.
Doorbuster deals at Kmart on Thursday evening include Barbie dolls for $2.99, and 24-inch LED TVs for $88 -- less than half price.
Some shoppers said big sale items are gobbled up too fast.
"It sucked. Sorry, that's the truth. We were standing out there since 2 o'clock this morning. We didn't even get a TV or nothing," one woman said.
Over at Best Buy, a group of college students wasn't going to let that happen. They were first in line, showing up a day early.
Salman Bhagat said they got to the store at 10 p.m. on Wednesday.
Farhan Patel said they were looking for "Today I'm interested in an Xbox bundle, a Toshiba TV -- a 40-inch for $180. They're also selling external hard drives for $60; they're 3 terabytes. It's a pretty good deal"
Diana Vines said she and her friends were "virgins" when it comes to Thanksgiving shopping.
Her friend convinced them to camp all night, and the crazy thing was another friend, Penny Armstrong, didn't plan on buying anything.
"I'm out here just to have a good time," she said.
There were very organized lines outside and inside the stores.
At Wal-Mart, for example, they were offering an 8 p.m. event for XBoxes and Playstation 3s. Then, at 10 p.m. they will roll out those TVs.
New this year, Wal-Mart was offering a guarantee that if you get in the store at 10 p.m., they will have TVs until at least 11 p.m.
