Thanksgiving shoppers give up sleep for a bargain

Black Friday came early this year for many bargain hunters as several major retailers opened their doors on a day usually reserved for sleeping in and crowding around the turkey.

With big chains such as Sears joining Wal-Mart and Kmart in opening on Thanksgiving, swarms of shoppers hit stores in numbers normally not seen until Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

In Baldwin Park, a line of cars had to wait up to 10 minutes to turn into the packed parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Managers at the West Covina Sears store reported a line of 50 people waiting to be let in at 7 a.m. And at the Kmart in Temple City, a throng of women rummaged through a large box of $9.99 blankets as another shopper juggled a coffee mug with an armful of board games.

Angel Cerna, 40, picked up a 40-inch Sony television for $529 and a surround-sound system for $179 at the Sears store.

“It was too good a deal to pass up,” the West Covina resident said. “And I have a hunch I’m still getting a better deal than on Black Friday, because it’s not as crowded today.”

The UPS truck driver had been on the hunt for a television for months when his girlfriend showed him the Sears ad. He said he usually sleeps in until 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving, but this year, he rolled out of bed at 8:30 a.m. and skipped breakfast.

With consumers still skittish about spending, this year’s shopping season is likely to be driven by deals, analysts said.

“Will it be a promotional season? That’s the way of the world,” retail analyst Dana Telsey said in a conference call with reporters. “Consumers … are used to seeing that percentage-off sign.”

Alexis Moon, 37, said she normally lazes around with her family before preparing for the afternoon feast. But by 9:30 a.m., the real estate agent stood clutching a Kmart flyer, her cart filled with a large photo frame, a pair of jeans and a doodle pad and scooter for her 2-year-old son, Marcus.

Most of the items were half off.

“This was a good price, so we figured, why not go out and get part of the shopping done?” she said.

Moon’s husband, Tony, 38, a mortgage broker, wasn’t so enthusiastic. “It would be nice to sleep, though.”

The Kmart store opened at 6 a.m. as it has for years on Thanksgiving, featuring one-day-only deals such as a 37-inch Panasonic TV that was slashed $150 to $399.99. The store expected about 5,000 customers to pass through by the 9 p.m. closing time. By comparison, Kmart is planning for a rush of 8,000 shoppers on Friday.

“This is what we work all year for,” store manager Steve Patterson said. “The customers we haven’t seen in a while, these are the days they’re coming in. They’re getting a jump on buying because it’s an easier shopping day.”

Employees didn’t seem to mind working on Thanksgiving Day.

Nick Meastas, 22, an electronics salesman at the Sears store in West Covina, said he was getting paid overtime for Thanksgiving and also planned to work Friday. Most years, he’d be asleep until the afternoon, but this time, he and his brother, who works for a Sears in San Bernardino, left their mother at home preparing the turkey.

“I’m okay with it,” Meastas said. “I’ve been running back and forth, and there hasn’t been a time yet today when there wasn’t a customer to talk to.”

At the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rosemead, the Thanksgiving opening created confusion for some shoppers, who picked up products that were not supposed to be on sale until Friday.

Kevin Fung of Rosemead stumbled on a stack of LG Blu-ray players marked down nearly 50% to $69.99, but he found out in the checkout line that they had mistakenly been left out on the floor and that the deal wouldn’t go into effect until the next morning.

Fung said he wouldn’t come back for the product while Black Friday was in full swing.

“It’s not worth it to wait for $50 or so in discounts in the line and in the cold,” he said. “You can find better deals online.”

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com

Times staff writer Andrea Chang contributed to this report.