Dallas-Fort Worth stores report good Black Friday traffic as shoppers hunt for deals

On Black Friday, Toys R Us and Grapevine Mills mall both got a jump start on the competition, opening with door-buster deals at midnight. Most other major retailers, like Walmart, Target and Best Buy, waited until 5 a.m. to entice shoppers through their doors.

With the recession, retailers heavily advertised their early-bird discounts in an attempt to get consumers in the spending mood. And as a result, lines were long and crowds were heavy at many Tarrant County stores Friday, and it was a similar story around the nation.

Kimberly O'Daniel of Colleyville showed up at the Toys R Us in Hurst at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, but she was still third in line. Her patience nabbed her a $199.99 iPod Touch that came with a $50 gift card. She also landed one of the most sought after toys this year: the Zhu Zhu toy hamster.

"I save a lot of money on Black Friday, like $700 to $800, and this year I'm on a strict budget," said O'Daniel, unemployed since May.

The store made a barrier of upturned shopping carts around the front of the line to prevent people from cutting in. Employees estimated that at least 2,000 people were in line when the doors opened at midnight.

Firefighters and paramedics made several early morning runs to shopping centers.

A deputy sheriff working off-duty security at the Walmart near Eastchase Parkway in east Fort Worth was shoved into a clothing rack, cutting his arm, after confronting a suspected shoplifter. Sgt. Chad Mahaffey, Fort Worth police spokesman, said the suspect was captured in a nearby field.

Crowd-control strategies

On average, Americans are expected to spend about $543 on gifts this holiday season with another $133 on gift cards, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs' 2009 holiday spending survey. More consumers also planned to start their shopping on Black Friday, the survey said.

Texans are expected to spend $1,380, or 21 percent more than the national average of $1,145, according to a Deloitte & Touche survey.

At Best Buy in far north Fort Worth, some shoppers pitched tents waiting for doors to open at 5 a.m. Around 3 a.m., employees started handing out tickets for about 20 door-buster deals.

First in line was Andrew Dendel of Keller, who got to the store right after he finished his Thanksgiving meal, around 1 p.m. As a result, Dendel, who sells laptops on eBay, had tickets for all the laptop door-buster deals he wanted.

The ticketing process was just one way the store, which can accommodate 1,100 people, controlled the crowds. It used blue tape on the floor to create one giant checkout line, which then split into tan, pink, green and white lines for customers buying various electronics. There was a special orange line for those buying computers.

Some shoppers found themselves out of luck before the doors even opened. Molly Lickteig of Fort Worth showed up around 3:30 a.m., hoping to snag one of the $499.97 HP desktop computers. Instead she saw hundreds of people already in line.

"My guess is we're not going to get what we want," Lickteig said. "The plan now is to go home and back to sleep."

Unexpectedly civil

At an Office Depot in east Fort Worth, employees walked along a line of about three dozen shoppers at 5:30 a.m. asking those who anticipated buying a computer and other electronics to sign up for extended warranties and add-ons in advance so they wouldn't need to wait in line as long inside. The store opened at 6 a.m. and employees served donuts and coffee.

Around the corner at Target, shoppers were leaving with large-screen TVs in their carts. The deals brought in two pairs of sisters, one who hadn't shopped Black Friday in years, and the other doing so for the first time.

"There's not as much pushing and shoving as I thought there'd be," said Leslie Afshari of Fort Worth, who made the trip with her sister visiting from Colorado, Lee Hodge.

Waiting to check out, sisters Terry Lajudice and Paula Nelson took calls from relatives asking them to pick them up items.

Lajudice was there to buy a GPS device and a digital camera for herself, but the cart was also full of other things.

Door busters, budgets

At 3:45 a.m., J.C. Penney manager Enriqueta Calvillo was getting her staff of 80 pumped up to greet the customers waiting outside at Alliance Town Center. She made last-minute checks on door-buster items in the aisles.

But not everyone was there for the door-buster deals. Brenda Denham of Denton arrived about 1aEURe 1/2 hours early for the store's gift for early-bird shoppers.

"We've been here since 2:30 a.m. for the snow globe," Denham said. "I collect them every year."

North East Mall opened at 5 a.m. and had full parking lots by 6:15. The mall was crowded with mothers and daughters like Hurst resident Doris Metcalfe's family, which has shopped on Black Friday for over a decade.

Metcalfe said five of them would spend a total of $1,500 to $2,000 at various stores on Black Friday. But, she added, "we're spending a lot less this year. At least we're trying to."

Luggage going fast

Jeff Chasteen, manager of the south Arlington Kohl's, started work at 2 a.m. Two hours later, he opened the doors to more than 700 shoppers.

By 6, checkout lines were long, but they were moving quickly because more cashiers came in early, Chasteen said. He also had employees monitor lines and direct shoppers.

Shoppers were buying a variety of products, but it was the luggage that was moving the quickest, Chasteen said.

"There's a lot of household goods going out," he said.

Lorie Lisius, senior general manager at The Parks at Arlington, said some stores reported fewer shoppers, but J.C. Penney, Sears and Macy's had near-full parking lots when they opened early.

Retailers told her shoppers "seemed to be buying bigger-priced items, which is surprising to me, but energizing."

All day long

At Ridgmar mall in west Fort Worth, store managers were encouraged by customers who continued to stream into the mall into the afternoon.

Victoria Hernandez, manager of Coach House gift shop, said Webkinz dolls and $5.99 necklaces were selling well.

"People are looking for reasonable gifts," she said.

Staff writers Deanna Boyd and Scott Nishimura contributed to this report.

ANDREA AHLES, 817-390-7631 SANDRA BAKER, 817-390-7727

To see more of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper,
go to http://www.dfw.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

For full details on Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) BBY. Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.

For full details on (TOY) TOY. (TOY) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on (TOY) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.