CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– As a cold wind blew on a brisk Thanksgiving morning, the line of people waiting to get into Best Buy in Kanawha County was already more than 12 hours old.
At the front of that line was Chris Carter from Putnam County who started forming the queue before 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“I didn’t really want to be the first one, I just thought there would be more people lined up when I got here,” Carter told MetroNews after 8 a.m. Thursday while bundled up in a folding chair, next to a small portable heater, with a view of the largely empty Best Buy parking lot off Corridor G.
Carter said he wanted to be in line early for what some retail experts have called “the best deal of the holiday weekend,” a Panasonic 50-inch HDTV for a Best Buy Thanksgiving price of $199.99. Normally, the television sells for $549.99.
Brittany Jally from Cross Lanes in Kanawha County was not far behind him, waiting to buy the same television. “That’s for me and my husband,” she said of the TV. “My husband’s at work right now, so I’m staying until he gets off work.”
She was in line at 7 a.m. Thursday. “As soon as I got here, I wanted to go home,” Jally admitted.
Tom Taylor, who’s from Charles Town in Jefferson County, was planning to buy himself a different television for the holidays. “Mine’s the 55-inch Samsung 4KUHD. It’s like looking out your window, that’s how clear it is. The regular price is $1,500, they’ve got it on sale for $900.”
Taylor said the price was worth the wait and worth leaving the family members he was visiting in Oak Hill. “I ditched them. I said I’m going to go get me a TV,” Taylor told MetroNews. “This will be my last TV for about another ten years.”
Carter, Jally and Taylor said they were new to the holiday shopping blitz that continues to push more and more into Thanksgiving Day.
Most major retailers, like Best Buy, were scheduled to open by Thursday evening and stay open through Black Friday, typically one of the busiest shopping days all year.
According to the National Retail Federation, more than 60 percent of those questioned in a recent survey planned to do some holiday shopping either Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Most of those planning to shop on Thanksgiving Day said they did so last year.