While most Americans gathered around dining room tables to share a feast of turkey and a day of thanksgiving, some Mid-Missourians cut short or gave up counting their blessings around a table, hoping to count the bargains from Black Friday sales.
Before 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving, lines had formed outside of Best Buy, Target, Kohl's, Menards, Old Navy and others. The deals, many said, were too good to pass up.
The streets to and from the stores were as busy as one might see on a typical mid-morning, only it was midnight.
The onslaught of shoppers was too much for most stores' parking lots, which overflowed with cars. Target shoppers had filled its parking lot late Thursday night. The spillover went into nearby grocery store Moser's, and then across Stadium Boulevard into nearby lots, leaving pedestrians to cross Stadium Boulevard to get to the store.
After shopping at Target, one early morning shopper could be seen wheeling a flat-screen television across busy Stadium Boulevard to her car.
Michelle Bernskoetter, her sister Melissa Starke and friends got in line at Target at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, waiting for the store's midnight opening. Bernskoetter was after a large-screen television, and said she stood in line last year and got one as well.
The sisters said the Black Friday shopping is a tradition that dates back to their childhood.
