Published: November 27, 2009 07:25 pm      

DEALS and SLEEP DEPRIVATION: Bargain hunters head out in force for Black Friday

Staggering through the door, bleary-eyed, exhausted with countless bags of gifts under their arms is likely how many Southern Indiana shoppers finished off Black Friday.

Many deal-seekers started earlier than normal this year, as some stores opened at midnight or in the very early morning hours, in hopes they would capitalize on the bargain-hunters. The stores weren’t disappointed

Even with a sagging economy and expectations of a slight decrease from last year, shoppers still showed up in droves.

When Bass Pro Shops, in Clarksville, opened at 6 a.m. Friday, a line of about 1,500 customers snaked from the front of the store, around the corner and back toward the movie theater that shares the same rear parking lot, said Mike Benningfield, store manager. A large contingent of that line was there when Benningfield showed up at 4 a.m.

In fact, the store was so full when it opened that Bass Pro extended a five-hour sale it was offering on several items to ensure that everybody that had been standing in line was able to get the deal.

“We weren’t even going to get everybody rang up before 11 a.m. [when the sale was originally scheduled to end] that was standing there,” Benningfield said. “It took about 25 minutes to get the line actually in the door.”

Despite the number of people that came in, the rush was a little lighter than it had been in years past.

“It was different [than previous years],” Benningfield said. “We’ve had more traffic, but it’s been spread out a little bit.”

The good news for Bass Pro is the spreading out of the crowds did not harm sales.

“We will have an increase today over last year’s Black Friday,” Benningfield said.

Some of the more popular items flying off the shelves were GPS units, an electrical smoker and Carhartt jackets.

The store hadn’t sold out of any of those items as of Friday afternoon, even with the especially strong sales of coats.

“It was just an amazing amount, I’m talking 500 or 600 coats,” Benningfield said of the number of jackets sold.

Customers Joe and Kathy Von Pilsen — first-timers shopping on Black Friday — made the trip down from Bloomington to Bass Pro by afternoon, after Kathy already had been out at some of the Black Friday sales in her hometown.

It looked like they had found several at Bass Pro, as their cart was overflowing. They had a circular serving as a makeshift shopping list, with gift recipients’ names written next to pictures of sale items.

“We’ve got $150 worth of gift cards we’re using, and today is the day to use those gift cards,” Joe Von Pilsen said as to why they decided to brave the crowds this year. “When you have as many credits on your card for Bass Pro Shop as I do, this is the mothership.”

The Von Pilsens obviously weren’t the only ones out braving the crowds.

Lines stacked up outside of Old Navy in Clarksville, not only before the store opened at 3 a.m. Friday morning, but on Thanksgiving Day, as the store was open from noon to 7 p.m.

“Because of the sales and the economy, we’ve ran some really good sales and we’ve had a really good response to that, even yesterday,” said Kelly Clark, a manager at Old Navy.

The retailer opened early to try and capture a few more bargain-hunters than normal. It seemed to be working.

As of about 1 p.m., the store was up about 6 to 8 percent in sales — approximately $75,000 — over last year’s totals, Clark said.

Clark said it’s as fun to people-watch as it is to tally figures.

“If you’ve never seen it, they come in with their shirts on, and they have battle cries, and they yell back and forth throughout the store to know where anyone is. It’s pretty funny,” Clark said.

One shopper that had certainly seen a lot in several hours of early morning shopping was Louisville resident Stacy Allen.

Allen, interviewed in the afternoon at Old Navy, started her outing earlier by getting gifts for her children. As a regular Black Friday shopper, her dedication to the deal was evident.

“I have five kids, so anything that I’ve found to have a discounted price, that’s what I was going for, [and] I haven’t been asleep,” Allen said. “I’ve been up since yesterday at 8 a.m. I just didn’t have an option; by the time Toys “R” Us opened at [midnight], by the time I got out of there, it was time to meet them in Indiana,” she said of her shopping buddies — Clarksville residents Melanie and Shawn Cox.

Melanie Cox said they started their holiday shopping a little later.

“We didn’t start until 2 [a.m.] this morning ... [but] there was nothing this year that we had to have” she said.

But the group still found all of the deals they were looking for.

“And then some ...” Allen said.