Shoppers line up early for ‘door busters’

Joshua Hernandez, 3, of Maplewood sleeps as his parents Clementina and Ramon shop Friday morning at the Sams Club in Maplewood. Anthony Souffle | Post-Dispatch

It was bone-chilling cold this morning, but shoppers lined up outside area big-box stores and malls around the St. Louis area to take advantage of the traditional “door buster” sales.

Parking lots were crammed full of cars, especially at Kohl’s and Best Buy. They opened earlier than usual to offer extreme bargains on electronics and other gifts to the early birds.

Tom Phlueger, 50, and Toni Manso, 40, both of Granite City, said they went to the Kohl’s store at 4 a.m. and had to leave because the check-out line wrapped throughout the store, hundreds deep, they said.

“Kohl’s was just ridiculous,” Phlueger said. “I’ll never do it again. You can’t even get in there. The lines are all around the building. I don’t need a bargain that bad.”

The pair were in the Sears store at St. Clair Square by 5 a.m. when the doors open.

“Here it’s not so bad,” Manso said. “Actually, I’m finding a few deals here but I doubt I’ll finish and have to keep shopping.”

Some retailers opened their doors as early as midnight to welcome shoppers.

Tom Mueth, 24, and Kristen Carter, 23, camped overnight outside Best Buy in Crestwood. Mueth landed a of lap top computers prices under $400, while Carter bought a Sharp Aquos flat screen television for $650.

Despite the great prices, the Glendale residents both said it was their first and last time camping out for Black Friday shopping.

“Maybe I’d do it again if had been warm like it was early in the week when it was 70 degrees,” said Mueth.

The scene was similar at various malls and big box stores across the area - jam packed parking lots before day break.

Stores are counting on hordes of shoppers who have been pulling back in recent months amid a challenging economy to snap up bargains. Merchants need them to keep coming back throughout the holiday season to make their sales goals.

Wal-Mart threw open its doors at 5 a.m., offering such specials as a Polaroid 42-inch LCD HDTV for $798 and a $79.87 Sony digital camera. From 5 a.m. to noon, Toys “R” Us Inc. offered 101 door busters on such toys as Mattel Inc.’s Barbie styling set and Hasbro Inc.’s FurReal interactive jungle cat toy. That’s four times the number it offered last year.

J.C. Penney, which opened at 4 a.m., an hour earlier than last year, is serving up such deals as a leather massage recliner for $298.88, after a $50 mail in rebate. The original price was $799. Other deals include 50 percent off toys and board games.

Jessica Thomas, 33 of Litchfield, Ill., said she and her family got up at 2 a.m. so that they could “hit all nine St. Louis area malls.” At 5:15 a.m., she was inside the St. Clair Square mall with her husband and two of her children — a son, 1, and daughter, 2. Her other two children — 5 and 9 years old — were still sleeping at home with family members.

“It’s fun,” Thomas said. “We’ve already spent more than last year and we have eight more malls to go. Our children now are old enough to ask for what they want. “

Lauren Hoppes, 29, of Collinsville was at the Sears store at St. Clair Square. She said it was a family tradition to get up early to shop. She said, however, that she will not be able to spend as much this year as she did last year.

By 5:20 a.m., Hoppes said that she was almost finished with her Christmas shopping. Her hands loaded with clothes, she waited in line to check out.

“I’m ahead of the game,” Hoppes said.

Standing at the door of J.C. Penney at the St. Clair Square was Tim Eilers, 16 of Troy. Bleary eyed, he said he had promised his mother that he would carry to the car a bargain artificial Christmas tree that she could not carry by herself.

“But I wish that I wasn’t here,” Eilers said. “I don’t like being around all of these people because when I say, ‘Excuse me,’ they won’t even move.”

While people jammed some stores, the Sam’s Club in Maplewood saw a much calmer scene. Shoppers arriving at just 10 minutes prior to the store’s 5 a.m. open were pleased to see lines no longer than 30 people.

Neil and Marry Ann Griffith of Webster Groves even had time to enjoy the store’s continental breakfast featuring biscuit sandwiches, coffee and juices.

“It’s the second time we’ve done this,” Neil said. “It’ll probably change our Thanksgiving tradition now that our children are older and we can leave them early in the morning.”

The heavy load of shoppers on this day can cause tempers to flare occasionally.There was a report this morning of fight breaking out among shoppers at a Best Buy in Chesterfield.

But stores have attempted to avoid stampedes by smoothing out the initial rush.

Some shoppers said they were able to wait inside store and were given a numbered order for purchasing hot deals.

At the Best Buy in Crestwood, general manager Bob Strub said shoppers for computers and home theater systems were asked to write down a name and cell phone number. Then, instead of waiting in line or rushing to grab a product from a display, associates would call customers when it was their turn to buy. The store also printed shorter receipts to shorten lines at the cash register.

But some think a sluggish US economy may have a greater affect on lines at the register.

This year, analysts expect sales gains to be the weakest in five years. Washington-based National Retail Federation predicted that total holiday sales will be up 4 percent for the combined November and December period, the slowest growth since a 1.3 percent rise in 2002.

Holiday sales rose 4.6 percent in 2006 and growth has averaged 4.8 percent over the last decade.

Historic gas price levels, food costs and continuing mortgage concerns may be contributing to consumers’ caution towards holiday spending this year, according to the Discover US Spending Monitor. More than 60 percent of consumers last week said they are expecting to spend more in the next month on household expenses like gasoline, groceries and mortgage payments.

Darryl and Tracey Talley of St. Louis said they’d try to make their Black Friday trip one of few they made this year in order to cut down car trips.

“Gas is a factor,” Tracey said. “We have a budget but we’re not real strict on it, but gas definitely has an affect on it.”

Not all shoppers were as concerned about economic factors. Christel Weyerich of Fenton said she spread shopping duties among her sister and brother-in-law to be efficient, but said there was plenty more shopping she would do after Friday.

“I usually get my shopping 90 percent done today,” she said. “But gas prices don’t affect me. It’s just for the sake of having it done.”

The Associated Press and Post-Dispatch writer Carolyn Tuft contributed to this story.