Bargain Hunters Out Early, Line Jumpers Rude


ST. MARY’S TODAY

CALIFORNIA — It was like ants on sugar.
Police had to be called out at Best Buy and Wal-Mart in California in the early hours of Black Friday to control matters as some door-busting freaks were acting up.
At least six deputies were called out at Wal-Mart and two at the Best Buy, said Lt. Daniel Alioto, head of the patrolling division at St. Mary’s Sheriff’s office. Alioto said there were 1200 people eager to rush into Best Buy at 5 am.
“It’s just a gimmick. They want you to get into the stores,” said Frank Urrutia of Lusby, as his wife Donna said the couple reached the Best Buy at 3 am, but found a place in the queue in front of PETCO. They could not buy the $129 camcorder and rushed to Target at 4.30 am where the camcorder was selling for $179.
Alioto said things went smoothly at Best Buy, but a much larger number of deputies had to be deployed at Wal-Mart because there’s always problem there.
Contrary to common belief, Black Friday is the busiest shopping day since the close of the 1930s depression, but the day with the highest sale is either the Saturday preceding Christmas, or December 23.
The reason the day is called Black Friday is that corporations who claim they are running in red, get back into black because of the high volume of sales. Christmas shopping traditionally follows Thanksgiving.
“They were fighting at Best Buy even earlier and police were called in,” said Urrutia.
Two senior sisters, Sandra Guy from Leonardtown and Kathleen Hindt from Mechanicsville, each anxious to give the best gift to their sons for Christmas, camped outside the Best Buy at 3.30 pm Thursday. The Best Buy was selling laptop computer, 18 of them at each of their outlets nationwide, that made prospective buyers go nuts.
“The family members don’t know we are here,” said Hindt. “We are going to get our tickets at 4 am,” said Guy, adding one of the first thing she wants to do after she makes her purchase at Best Buy is to go to the restroom.
Hindt said she felt jittery when she and her sister saw teenagers driving by at dusk, staring at them. “I thought they might think these two ladies standing here by themselves have loads of cash,” she said. One of the sisters stood fort, as the second went to Wawa to relieve her bladder, after the line became bigger, adding to their sense of security.
Had it not been for Wawa and Sheetz, people might have relieved their bladders on the side of the streets like in most of the Third World as corporations don’t make any arrangements to help citizens.
A the Best Buy, a handful of youths were indulging in obnoxious behavior, forcing Store Manager David Caron to seek police help.
“Yes some of them snuck in front of me,” said Sandy McCuin of Damascus, Md., who was elated she bought a camera for her daughter and another for herself. She felt upset.
She said if well-behaved person would have equested to snuck in front, she would not have had problems. “But the behavior of these guys was obnoxious the entire time they were there,” she said.
Police said the maddening crowds was nothing new, though the scene is getting uglier with each passing year.
“This has been like this for many years,” said Deputy C. Morley at Wal-Mart. He hoped when the super Wal-Mart would come up, things would calm down.
Robert Kinion, was standing in front of the Wal-Mart since Midnight. He interested in buying a power-wheels toy. “It’s for my daughter, 3. It’s selling for $75, usually it sells for $150.”
Aaron Kidder, 28, of Lexington Park who works as a paramedic in Charles County, arrived at the Wal-Mart at 8 pm Thursday but found bested by Sunni Perttula and her stepdaughter Victoria Perttula from Lusby.
Kidder said he would be saving as much as $500 when he buys the 52 inch RCA TV projector. He came on his truck and said he did not have any problems with transporting the huge equipment, adding he lives just a five-minute drive from Wal-Mart.
“I am here to buy a portable DVD player for my son’s Christmas gift,” Sunni Perttula said. The daughter Victoria, who works at Moe’s Southwest Grill, said she was there to buy $49.99 Gameboy Advance.
Kidder and the Perttulas felt giving out tickets to door-busters to come and buy the stuffs they want would help alleviate peoples miseries, but said rain-check won’t help as people tend to abuse them. “Some who don’t have the money just book the items and want to got back only when they had money,” Victoria said.
A brother and sister from Lusby, Steven Morina and Suzan Shorter, were at the very beginning of the line at Wal-Mart.
“My mom and son are here too,” said Shorter. “There are some really good prices. A computer is selling for $149,” she said. She said her son and mom were also in the parking lot. Shorter joked the family would make a “V” in case people try to cut across them in the queue.
Morina, a Grade Two teacher, seeing Sheriff’s deputies vehicles lining up at Wal-Mart, said, “The cops will help. I am assuming they will.” He was there for the 52-inch projector television,.
Morina said before camping outside Wal-Mart around midnight, where there were half dozen people, he had gone to Best Buy at 11.45 pm but saw nearly 50 people already camped there.
Perhaps the grass is always appears greener on the other side, the brother and sister thought things were better managed at Best Buy.
“People want to go to the bathroom,” Shorter said, and wished Wal-Mart could have done something about it. “They should play band,” added Morina.
The Guy-Hindt sisterly duo were followed in the queue by Rob and April Mattedi, operators of Mattedi Gallery.
The Mattedis were there to buy a big screen TV. “In stead of buying small stuffs for each member of the family, we thought we should buy one big gift for the entire family,” Rob Mattedi said. At the Staples, which like Target still had some semblance of civility, the TV was available at the same price.
Lauren Gard of Ridge was standing outside the Best Buy since 6.30 pm Thursday with her boyfriend Bill Greer of Lexington Park, growing on each other. Hugging each other 10 hours later, the couple in the prime of their youth felt it was not too bad.
“It’s cold but it’s good time to spend together,” said Gard. Greer, who works as a detailer at the Toyota of Southern Maryland, was there to buy a DVD for his car and also the laptop, and Gard just to buy movie discs. “I love Adam Sandler,” Gard, who works at Smartronics, said.
Separated by Gard and Greer by half a furlong, were Raza and Mahwish Warraich, a young couple of Pakistan origin. Raza Warraich, like Gard works for Smartronics, but as a software engineer at the Navy base. “I am here to buy a laptop. She wants one too,” Warraich said.
The couple said they had no definite plans, but late at night decided why not give it a try.
At the very end of the line for Best Buy, more than a furlong away outside the PETCO at 4 am were David and his daughter Kristen Proctor of Hughesville. “Diehard cowboys,” was how Proctor described his family, adding they have been doing Black Friday door-busting for several years now. Proctor confirmed the lines were getting longer with each passing year.
Dominick Muoio, a director at Steelcloud, came all the way down from Potomac Falls, Va., to stay with his nephew Raymond Hoffman at St. Leonard. Muoio was first and Hoffman was the second person in the queue outside the Staples and were there to buy a 32-inch LCD TV.
Hoffman, who works for Northrop Grumman in Hollywood, said his parents were camped at Best Buy. The family had made more than one plan to get the TV for a pregnant member expecting any moment. The much-sought after TV was priced the same at Best Buy and Staples.
The pregnant girl was Hoffman’s sister. “She’s about to explode,” said Muoio, adding that’s the reason family did not go to Bowie as they wanted to be close to her.
Delegate John Bohanan (D. Lexington Park) was at Staples and said his wife reached Best Buy at 4.50 am. “I think they handled the affairs at Best Buy smoothly,” Bohanan said.
Randall Winder, 20, Lusby came to know about a computer tower being sold for $150 on the Internet the night before and decided to try his luck. He joined the line at Wal-Mart 100 minutes before the door opened at 5 am. Winder appeared distraught, disoriented and disinterested in talking.
Doing away with rain checks some years ago made shopping more difficult. As recently as five years ago, retailers used to give out rain checks.
“Let the rest of them have it,” said Jean Russell, who works at Callaway Laundromat, who said she is adverse to the idea of going shopping Black Friday. “I don’t like them crowds. The pushing and shoving.”