Trina Mitosinka didn’t spend Thanksgiving Day eating turkey and stuffing.
Instead, the 40-year-old from Woodlawn and her daughter, Emily Morris, 17, planned to spend eight hours waiting in front of a Target store in west Little Rock until the store opened for Black Friday.
“We always do [Thanksgiving] on Wednesday so we can shop Thursday and Friday,” Mitosinka said.
This year, Black Friday has moved further into Thanksgiving Day as large retailers decided to open their doors for shopping holiday earlier than before - and at a time when many people would still be celebrating Thanksgiving.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sears opened at 8 p.m., Target at 9 p.m. and Best Buy Co. at midnight.
Mitosinka, who was at the Target at 12700 Chenal Parkway, said she didn’t mind the stores opening earlier Thursday.
“It doesn’t bother me because I know a lot of people won’t give up their Thanksgiving, so I beat them,” she said.
Last year Mitosinka slept outside the nearby Best Buy on Chenal Parkway for two days waiting for it to open at midnight so she could get several laptops and TVs.
On Thursday, Mitosinka and her daughter arrived at Target at 1 p.m. and by 3 p.m., they were the only ones waiting in line.
They were at the store to get a Nikon camera that normally cost $199.99 but was marked down to $99.99 for the day.
Dressed in a gray sweatshirt, jeans and a pink baseball hat, and sitting in a camp chair, Mitosinka said this was her 16th year shopping on Black Friday and that sheprepares for the day all year long.
“I am more committed to Black Friday than my marriage,” Mitosinka said, adding that she saves $50 per paycheck to go shopping on Black Friday. “Even if I wasn’t going to get anything I would shop for other people.”
Mitosinka and her daughter weren’t the only ones sitting outside stores Thursday afternoon. About 13 people were outside the Best Buy on Chenal Parkway by 2 p.m.
One of them was Larry Foshee of Little Rock who was sitting on a beige couch near the entrance with his friend Zbyszek Blaszko, from Poland.
Foshee, 41, arrived at the electronics store at 12:30 p.m. hoping to get a TV, laptop and some gifts for his wife when the store opened at midnight.
“It’s camping for the geeks,” he said.
Foshee said he has been using his couch on Black Friday for several years because it is warmer than a chair.
Mitosinka, at the nearby Target, said she remembered Foshee and his couch waiting at Best Buy last year.
She said he was in the spot she was in last year.
“I feel like that’s my home and people are sitting in it,” she said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 11/23/2012