SALEM — After years of getting up early the day after Thanksgiving to write news stories about Black Friday shoppers, I decided this was the year I would get a "doorbuster" deal of my own.
I don't know if it was because of the economy or the relentless ads that started before Halloween, but it seemed the apocalyptic movie "2012" would come true if I did not get into Target at 5 a.m.
The National Retail Federation estimated up to 134 million people will shop this weekend; 66 percent will head to a big-box store, and nearly 30 percent will go between 4 and 6 a.m.
I became a Black Friday statistic when I got up at 4:32 a.m. and headed out. I soon realized I was not alone. Was it me, or was that car following me much too close on Swampscott Road also a Black Friday shopper?
As I drove toward the Target parking lot at 4:50 a.m., I realized I was not the only one in search of a deal.
Despite the darkness and drizzle, a line stretched a few hundred feet around the building. I figured there must have been at least 500 people in line — the first 500 who showed up got a free Marcel Wanders reusable shopping bag, and I was not one of them.
I overheard one woman in line say she never goes out on Black Friday but felt compelled to do so this year. Another woman said the line of people at a nearby Walmart stretched out of the parking lot.
Target's doors opened at 5 a.m., and the orderly crowd only took a few minutes to enter. By the time I got in, people were already leaving with flat-screen TVs.
Once inside, the circular I'd been studying all Thanksgiving day came to life. Off in the distance were piled boxes of the Emerson eight-bottle wine racks for $59.99, and straight ahead stood the Dirt Devil Versa for $9.
Seemed like all the real early birds had stuffed their carts with the 32-inch Westinghouse flat-screen TV for $286, a savings of more than $180.
I watched as a $449 flat-screen TV slid off a cart and onto the floor. The couple who dropped it put it back on their cart as if nothing had happened.
As most shoppers headed toward the electronics, I went right in search of what I had come for: a small Singer sewing machine for my older daughter. At $39, I was saving $21.
But, in a rush of panic, I could not find it. I was sure the horde of hoarders ahead of me had not yet snapped them up, but you never know. After I circled around, I asked one of the "associates," and he directed me to the display of sewing machines. I had my must-have doorbuster at last.
If you thought a sewing machine was my only quest, you were wrong. I bought a few DVDs on sale, some as low as $5.99. I bought digital picture key chains for $10 and an Easy Bake oven for my younger daughter for $17.
Then, I realized I was out of cat food, which, at 52 cents a can, was not on sale. I headed into Target's grocery department and noticed not a soul was around. It struck me as odd; food is our most basic human need, but from the way I and everyone else was behaving, you would think humans subsist on flat-screen TVs.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
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