FARMINGTON — It has become a holiday in its own as shoppers flock to retailers during the wee hours in the morning after Thanksgiving for Black Friday shopping.

Shoppers started to descend on the Farmington Wal-Mart Supercenter as early as 3 a.m. for 5 a.m. doorbuster specials. By 4:30 a.m. there wasn’t a parking spot available in the store’s parking lot. At exactly 5 a.m. store associates cut the plastic wrapping on pallets spread throughout the store. Customers surrounded the pallets to make sure they could get the items they had gotten up early to purchase. Big ticket items included the Nintendo Wii game console, a Garmin GPS navigation system for $97, LCD TVs and computers.

JC Penney opened its doors at 4 a.m. to cash in on early bird shoppers. The store was the first major retailer to start its Black Friday shopping sale this morning.

Judy Montgomery of Farmington stopped at JC Penney on her way to work. She said she has always liked to shop the day after Thanksgiving.

“This is something I usually do each year,” she said. “I don’t think this year is as crowded as it has been in years past.”

The Farmington resident said she was Christmas shopping for her three children and six grandchildren.

“I like to take advantage of the big sales,” Montgomery said.

She said she was most likely going to limit her shopping to JC Penney because she was pressed for time.

Cassi Cannell of Bonne Terre said she set her alarm clock for 3 a.m. to get up and go shopping. She admitted though, it was more like 4 a.m. before she actually got up and got going.

“The shopping is going pretty good,” Cannell said. “I’m shopping for my two kids. This is the first year I have done this. It’s kind of crazy.”

She said she planned to go to JC Penney and Wal-Mart for sure.

“After that I might be shopped out,” Cannell said.

Tom Lorenz, the Farmington Sears store owner, said shoppers were lined up when he opened at 5 a.m.

“I think the number of shoppers is down from last year,” Lorenz said. “We are selling a lot of big items. Sears had a good buy on washer and dryer sets and I can’t tell you how many we have sold. It’s been several though. We are also selling a lot of drills and wrenches like we always do each year.”

Chris Cline is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at 573-431-2010, ext. 114 or at ccline@dailyjournalonline.com.

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