Venus Miller normally puts a turkey in the oven before dawn on Thanksgiving Day and goes back to sleep.
But this Thanksgiving, the 60-year-old Kettering resident waited in line with her friend Gary D. Buckner, 60, before 6 a.m. to save big on an Element large-screen TV sold at the Meijer in Kettering.
“First day ever on a Thanksgiving shopping,” Miller said. “I’ve gotten up this early before just to put my turkey in and go back to bed.”
The two were among customers who flocked to the store to grab deals on TVs and electronic gadgets like iPads.
“I usually go hunting Thanksgiving morning but this year there were other plans,” Buckner said.
Store Director Mike Burkhart said customers who wanted savings on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPads and the large screen TV drew more early morning shoppers than last Thanksgiving.
“Those were huge sellers this morning,” said Dean Maez, store director of Meijer in Englewood where the scene was similar.
Many customers lined up before 6 a.m. waiting for cash registers to open in Kettering.
Last year, Thanksgiving Day sales accounted for $810 million, a 55 percent increase from 2011 as more stores opened on the holiday, according to Chicago research firm ShopperTrak. That resulted in a 1.8 percent drop in Black Friday sales, which at $11.2 billion was still the biggest shopping day last year.
Big day to shop
The National Retail Federation said nearly a quarter of the 140 million people who planned to shop this weekend would do so on Thanksgiving Day, or 33 million shoppers.
“It’s really one of our bigger shopping days of the year and really our customers depend on us to get those last-minute grocery items they need,” Maez said. Meijer has been open on Thanksgiving Day for more than two decades.
The move in retail to open on Thanksgiving has been controversial, sparking protests, online petitions and resistance from some retailers such as Costco.
Burkhart said Meijer employees work on Thanksgiving Day based on seniority or if they volunteer, and generally are on duty for four to five hours at holiday pay. “A lot of our full-timers enjoy working on Thanksgiving more because we build a relationship with our customers,” Maez said.
The National Retail Federation is expecting 2014 holiday sales to increase 4.1 percent in 2014, a healthy gain over last holiday season’s 3.1 percent increase. The average shopper plans to spend $804 this holiday shopping season, up nearly 5 percent over last year’s actual $767.
Tamica London, 43, of Dayton, arrived at the Kettering Meijer store at 1 a.m. with four friends to make sure they each would get a ticket to buy five large-screen TVs. She calculated the savings at $700 as workers stacked the flat-screen TVs on a dolly.
“We are going to share them throughout the family,” she said.
Just after 6 a.m., Molly and Dan Mundra, from Indianapolis, stood in a long line that wrapped around the Meijer electronics department to buy two iPad Air computer tablets. Their children need the portable computers for school. The couple estimated they’d save about $200, enough to keep them standing in a line that wasn’t moving quickly.
“We’ve shopped Black Friday morning before but never Thanksgiving,” said Molly Mundra, 42. “Everyone else is still sleeping.”
Waiting in line more than a day
A $200 50-inch Panasonic TV deal is what brought bargain shoppers to Best Buy in Fairborn.
Tabatha Herbst of Dayton said she had a lot of people looking at her strangely when she set up camp outside the store Wednesday afternoon.
She brought a chair, six blankets, candy to snack on and diapers, just in case. She said she hasn’t had to use them thanks to friends, family members and co-workers who have stopped by to take her place in line so she can use the restroom.
“I’ll have waited 29 hours when they open their doors. I don’t do this all the time, but my son went to his girlfriend’s for Thanksgiving and so I decided this is what I’m going to do,” Herbst said.
She said she doesn’t agree with the Thanksgiving day sales.
“I think it’s wrong that a lot of these businesses are making people work. It’s backward with me sitting here, but I’m talking about other people who could be spending time with family,” Herbst said, adding that this is her first time camping out for a sale and it will be her last.
David Canup of Dayton showed up at Best Buy just before noon.
When asked why he decided to wait in line Canup said, “I’m asking myself the same question right now, but it’s a really good deal. It’s worth waiting in line for a few hours.”
Canup said it’s his first time taking part in Thanksgiving Day shopping and he was surprised to see a dozen people in line, some of them in tents.
“I wouldn’t have done the all-night thing,” he said.
As of 2 p.m. there weren’t any shoppers lined up outside Toys R Us in Fairborn, although workers were outside putting up signs and yellow tape, in anticipation of a crowd.
Charla Robson, from Springfield, sat in her van with her boyfriend and oldest son, staying warm instead of standing outside, but still waiting for the doors to open.
“This is my first year. My boyfriend does a lot of Black Friday shopping so I told him I’d go with him to try it out. I think it’s boring right now, I’m doing homework,” Robson said.
She said the store opening at 5 p.m. was a little ridiculous.
“People are just sitting down to eat. It is crazy. But I do think it’s OK to open on Thanksgiving night,” Robson said, adding that she and her family had their Thanksgiving meal Wednesday.
Business Editor Rich Gillette contributed to this story.
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