Lighter crowds, earlier shopping hours mark Modesto-area Black Friday sales

They gave up steaming mashed potatoes with extra gravy. Perfectly roasted turkey glistening with salt and pepper. Soft dinner rolls with butter melted into their flaky layers.

They also gave up hours – or, for some, days – with family and friends preparing for the traditional Thanksgiving feast. But, despite eating delayed – or, in some cases, early – holiday meals with their loves ones, the folks standing in line Thursday for Black Friday deals in Modesto said it was all worth it.

Of course, one only needs to glance at a calendar to see that Black Friday has become somewhat of a misnomer. For dozens of national retailers, the day should be renamed No Turkey Thursday. As companies strive for more shoppers, their openings have gotten earlier and earlier. What once was merely an early morning Friday event has been pushed to early evening Thursday. The change has eaten into the holiday for shoppers and employees.

Stores such as Best Buy, Toys R Us and JCPenney pushed up their Thursday opening from the year before by an hour to several hours. And many of the most ardent of Black Friday enthusiasts waiting in line for doors to open were unhappy about missing the family feast.

“Now it’s just ruining the holiday, they keep making it earlier and earlier,” said Modesto resident Gustavo Contreras, 27, who was first in line at Best Buy on Sisk Road. “I don’t even know why it’s called Black Friday anymore.”

Contreras and his two brothers arrived at 3 a.m. Monday to be the first people in line. Camping out for Black Friday is a ritual they’ve done for at least the past five years. But this was the first year they’ve been first in line. And, they noticed, the line was shorter. What once wrapped almost all the way around the building went only halfway around the back this time.

Other retailers with Thursday openings saw similarly shorter lines. The line at the Modesto Toys R Us barely turned the corner from the front of the store. A modest pack of people huddled outside JCPenney. And a woman and her daughter were the only ones outside OfficeMax on Sisk Road in the late afternoon.

As the doors at Best Buy were about to open, an employee looked over at neighboring Target to see how many people were waiting and declared it a “baby line.”

Still, there were thousands of shoppers in the region willing to sacrifice some of their holiday, albeit with a grumble, in search of the promised big sales. Some were students looking for cheap offerings. Others were families excited to be able to afford luxuries previously out of their price range. Then there were the ever-present bargain hunters looking for deals, deals, deals.

Stockton resident Derell Ellison, 28, was in the Best Buy line a few dozen people from the front. He arrived at 8 a.m. Tuesday with a single mission: Get that $200 50-inch LED TV deal. The wait was Ellison’s first, and he swears last, Black Friday experience.

“Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but because of these sales I had to come out,” he said, joined in line Thursday by his father, who lives in Modesto. “But I know I’m missing family and football. I don’t think I’ll do it again. I mean, come on, I spent two nights in a tent.”

Once the doors opened, customers popped flat screens and game consoles in their carts like milk and eggs at the grocery store. While most had a clear game plan of what to buy based on Black Friday circulars, some just came to see what was left.

Oakdale resident Sophy Phoeun, 33, wanted to get that $200 TV deal as well, but the store ran out of vouchers by the time she was in line. She arrived at Best Buy about 3 p.m. Thursday, and stood about midway through the line that had formed as of opening time. This was only her second Black Friday and she planned to hit other stores as well. Her family moved Thanksgiving dinner to Friday to accommodate the shopping spree.

After about 15 minutes inside Best Buy, she left with a new microwave and camera.

“I really don’t like it because it takes away from Thanksgiving,” she said, loading up her car. “But I also have more shopping to do.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2014 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Lighter crowds, earlier shopping hours mark Modesto-area Black Friday sales."