To stake claim to bargains, devoted buyers brave weather

Some delight in the madness of shopping on 'Black Friday.'
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
Sean Clawges drove all the way from Fort Wayne, Ind., for a chance to camp out in front of the Best Buy store in Niles.
"I'm just visiting," he said, laughing. "I drove all the way here for this!"
With a headband on to keep his ears warm, Clawges kept his blanket wrapped around him to fend off the 40-degree temperatures. By 4:30 a.m. today, it had already been a long night for Clawges. He -- along with Lyndi Schrecengost and Tammy Neff, both of Cortland -- had been camped out in front of the store since midnight.
"We were duped," Neff joked, explaining that the three understood store employees would be handing out vouchers starting at 2 a.m.
Although that wasn't the case, Clawges, Neff and Schrecengost made the best of the situation: Sitting comfortably in their camping chairs, they watched a video on the television screen in Clawges' sport utility vehicle.
On a mission
Schrecengost said the pilgrimage to stores on "Black Friday" -- the biggest shopping day of the year and the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season -- is an annual event, though they don't normally start that early.
"This is just the beginning," she noted, and began rattling off a list of other stores they planned to hit before lunch. "We have a plan. We have our lists. We all know what we are supposed to get."
All across the Mahoning Valley, shoppers grabbed their carts and stood in line, hoping to be the first to get the best deals. In Austintown, more than 50 people lined up outside Kmart, waiting for employees to pass out gift cards that could be worth anywhere from $1 to $100.
Whether they came for the early-bird specials, that hard-to-find item, the last-minute gifts on their list or the chance to get out of a house invaded by out-of-town relatives, shoppers braved the foggy, rainy weather to get a chunk of their holiday shopping done.
Christy Johnson of West Pittsburg, Pa., questioned her own sanity as she stood outside Kohl's in Boardman, waiting more than an hour before the doors opened.
"As sick as it is, I think this is fun," she said. "I need medication. I woke up at 3:20 this morning to be here."
Johnson said she didn't even need to do any more shopping this morning but was there for her friend, Nakita Saras of New Castle, Pa. The pair planned to stop at Target, Best Buy, Toys "R" Us and several other stores before the day was over.
Scoping out savings
Standing next to them in the crowd was Katie Burkey, who was armed with a sales flier and a mug of coffee.
"Any other morning, I would be mad if I woke up this early," she said. "But I'm here for the deals."
Johnson agreed that the savings are a big reason she's made the early-morning trek to department stores the morning after Thanksgiving for the past few years. But she's a bargain shopper year-round, she said.
"I hit at least five different Target stores each month," she said. "If I'm not at the Target in Niles at least once a month, I go through withdrawal."
When someone comments that she must not have children because there's so much time to shop for deals, she quickly counters the assumption.
"I have a 3-year-old," she said. "As long as she gets a pretzel, she's happy. In fact, she's already learning how to shop. She'll hold something and ask me, "Mommy? Is this on clearance?'"
slshaulis@vindy.com