Long lines. Low prices. Crazed crowds. That’s right: Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Tomorrow! Local retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Best Buy, and the Auburn Mall open earlier than usual (anywhere from midnight to 7 a.m.) so that bargain-hunters can shop for popular items at great prices. For many locals, shopping in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving is a yearly tradition.

Karen Gaetani, of Auburn, and her sister, Mary Jo King, head out at dawn each year to hit their favorite stores for Black Friday sales. Looking for a variety of items, they usually stop at Wal-Mart, Staples, J.C. Penney, and Best Buy in the Lewiston-Auburn area and sometimes make the trek to the Maine Mall if there are sales worth the drive. What’s the motivation for such an early morning and potential travel? Bargains! Gaetani explains that she and King use sales flyers to plan out what they want ahead of time, and then “when you get there, you see other stuff you like.” They can chart a route based on when stores open and which stores have the items they want the most, making sure to prioritize.

Sometimes a divide and conquer strategy comes in handy: shopping partners can split up to gather more items more quickly.
Electronics seem to be the most popular Black Friday sale items, perhaps because they have the biggest price cuts. Nick LeBlanc, of Portland, looks exclusively for deals on technological gadgets and knows exactly what he’s looking for when he gets to a store. “It’s the best time to get good electronics really inexpensively,” he says. “A couple of years ago I got an amazing deal on GPS. It was worth waiting in the cold for a little while to save so much money.”

On some items, “you’re getting electronics for almost nothing after the rebate,” says King.

Gaetani chimes in, “you have to do the rebate!” The little bit of extra time to fill out and mail in a rebate can go a long way toward saving some serious cash.

Of course, not everyone is so gung-ho about the Black Friday experience. Alex Poulin, of Auburn, would rather sleep in and shop online than fight the crowds in the stores or deal with mail-in savings. “If I do shop, I’d probably go to a smaller store like Mr. Paperback or Bull Moose where the lines won’t be crazy, but the prices will still be good.”

But, for King and Gaetani, Black Friday isn’t just about saving money. Gaetani jokes, “it’s also the thrill of the hunt!” The adrenaline rush of competing with other shoppers adds a level of excitement to the shopping event. The ladies laugh, but admit they haven’t had any bad experiences.

“People have always been really nice,” says King, and Gaetani adds, “the only bad thing is the long lines.”

But, waiting doesn’t take away from their Black Friday shopping trips. Despite the early mornings and competition with other customers, it’s a post-Thanksgiving tradition Gaetani thinks is worth keeping.