By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

After the turkey has been put away for future sandwiches and the last pumpkin pie tin has been thrown away, thousands of people flock to the stores hoping to get the best deal on holiday gifts, or at least snag the best advertised doorbuster.

The Wagner family, of Loughman, was first in line at The Loop’s Old Navy store at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. They brought board games and a laptop computer to watch videos while they waited for the store to open at midnight to get the Dance Central Kinect video game for free, a $50 value, with a minimum purchase of $25.

“That’s the only reason I’m here,” Joyce Wagner said, as her children and husband played catch in the parking lot.

The store only had 59 games but the line stretched down six doors before the doors opened.

The Wagners are like many families who spend the hours after the traditional Thanksgiving meal planning strategy for which stores have the best deals. Last year, Joyce was first in line at the same Old Navy when the store offered a similar free video game with purchase deal; however, she had to wait for the store to open at 4 a.m.

“Last year, it was in the 40s,” she said. “The weather is a lot better this year.”

Because Old Navy was one of several stores that opened on the holiday, the Wagners took turns mapping out the store before it closed in preparation of the big sale.

“They didn’t even move things. They just put up different signs,” Paul Wagner said.

“Things are just cheaper,” Erick Wagner, 14, said.

Other people like to be well ahead of the game.

Daniel Caldera and five friends set up a tent Tuesday morning at the Best Buy across from The Loop to ensure he received his tickets — the electronics retailer’s way of keeping things fair — for a big-screen TV and laptop. Store officials even moved the “line starts here” sign further down the outside wall to accommodate the tent.

“We all decided we were all going to get something so we might as well be early,” he said. “They had the best deals.”

Fully stocked with two air mattresses, an Xbox video game console and a TV, the friends took turns sleeping outside the store and going home to shower and brush their teeth. The electronics were plugged into an extension cord powered by a car in the parking lot.

To offset their planned purchases and to provide some refreshments for others waiting in line, the friends were also selling water and soda out of a cooler.

“On Thursday, everything was closed. We’re trying to help everyone out,” Caldera, 23, of Kissimmee, said.

Four other tents also were up with people hoping to pick up presents that often only sell at the discounted prices for a limited number of hours.

Black Friday began in the 1960s and is labeled as such because it is the day retailers go from losing money, or being in the red, to making money from holiday shoppers, or being in the black.

While millions of people across the country wake up extremely early or stay up late and shop all day the Friday after Thanksgiving, a Consumer Reports poll showed only 44 percent of Americans planned to shop this Black Friday, a 7 percent drop from last year.

Additionally, according to the same poll, consumers will spend an average of 15 hours shopping for holiday gifts. Shoppers also estimate they will spend an average of three and a half hours in checkout lines while one in four consumers expect to spend four or more hours waiting to purchase gifts.

Black Friday, however, appears to have expanded from just one day with some retailers opening their doors earlier than ever. Some opened on Thanksgiving Day hoping to cash in with people eager shop off stuffing and cranberry sauce. Sears was open on the holiday for the first time in its 124-year history and Wal-Mart staggered deals hoping to entice shoppers to spend their money.

As for the Wagners, they walked out of the store less than 30 minutes after it opened, video games and clothing in hand, successful in their Black Friday endeavor.