By Herman Wang
Staff Writer
At 4:45 a.m. on Friday, Jessica Helsel had been waiting for almost 12 hours outside the Circuit City near Hamilton Place.
Her quarry? A $299 laptop, a television and whatever other deals she can find.
"We're shopaholics," said Ms. Helsel, who stood first in line at Circuit City with her mother, Barbara, and friends Kelly and Matt Hogan. "My dad, he's at home in bed laughing. They think we're crazy, but then they tell us what they want us to get for them."
Retailers nationwide opened their doors to pre-dawn throngs of bargain hunters on the day known as Black Friday, the kickoff to the busiest shopping season of the year.
The National Retail Foundation estimates 137 million shoppers will pack stores this weekend, and total holiday sales will grow 5 percent from last year to $457.4 billion, the organization said in a news release. Late Friday, the trade group said electronics and toys were the most-sought-after items of the day.
Jeff Hellman, general manager of Staples at Hamilton Place, said his store expects modestly better holiday sales figures than those of last year. Every able-bodied employee he had was working Black Friday, he said.
"Technology's getting cheaper, and it's getting better," he said, while surveying the growing shopper line outside his store before opening at 6 a.m. "As long as those trends continue, sales look to be good."
Thousands of Chattanoogans queued up early Friday for so-called "doorbuster" deals and early bird specials. Mr. Hellman handed out vouchers for the nine Compaq Presario laptops he had on sale for $399 with a $100 rebate an hour before opening.
Kelly Bearden was one of the lucky recipients.
"I've been here since 11:50 (p.m.), I'm going on no sleep, and I've got to work today at 7:40 (a.m.)," said Ms. Bearden, who works at First Bank of Dalton, Ga. "I've made four good friends here, though."
Meanwhile, at Circuit City, the line stretched around the building, hundreds deep in anticipation of the 5 a.m. opening. As several hopeful line-jumpers assembled around the door, Circuit City staffers erected a flimsy barricade and pleaded for order.
"This is the most intense it's ever been," Zach Harper, a customer service associate, said before hurrying back inside. "It's always a fast-paced environment."
At 5 a.m. sharp, the doors opened to a cheer from the crowd. By 5:10 a.m., each checkout line had 20 customers waiting in line.
Susan Fisher, her arms filled with video games, MP3 players and other electronic gadgets, said she arrived an hour before opening for the deals and makes a yearly habit of waking up early on Black Friday.
"It's just the adrenaline rush," she said. "There's all the good sales."
Not all shoppers found what they were looking for. Paul Siboun struck out on a Nintendo Wii at Hamilton Place mall's Software Etc., where a manager said the six units of the highly coveted video game console his store had in stock sold out "in about five minutes, if that."
"They sold out before I even got here," Mr. Siboun said.
Rebecca Belk started off her morning browsing at Bath and Body Works with her friend, Lisa Jordan.
"It's something we do every year," Ms. Belk said. "We may not buy a thing, but we have fun."
E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com
Staff Photo by Dan Henry
Hundreds of people line up outside Circuit City near Hamilton Place on Black Friday, the shopping day after Thanksgiving, waiting for the doors to open at 5 a.m.
