Black Friday bargains bigger and longer

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - For a lot of people, Black Friday is a tradition. Even with the economy still pulling out of a recession, the crowds still lined up to get doorbuster deals this year.

"The deals are just too good. You have to stay in line," Nat Romine said.

Romine was one of the first in line at the Apple Glen Best Buy. He got in line at 5 p.m. Thursday to buy a laptop and wireless mouse. 

"Some people try to slither their way to the front, but we make sure as front runners that doesn't happen," Romine said.

Last year on Black Friday, a security guard was killed in a New York Wal-Mart when he was trampled by the crowd rushing into the store. To prevent something like that from happening, Best Buy gives people still in line vouchers for the big items before the store opens.

"It makes it easy for the customers so when they come in they don't have to worry about trying to run or fighting over stuff," Best Buy General Manager Brandon Wilson said.

Wilson said the line of people waiting to get in the store at 5 a.m. was longer than last year.

"Our pricing this year are a lot more aggressive than I've really ever seen. Value is important to a lot of our customers now and we've come through with that," Wilson said.

Old Navy is trying new strategies to get shoppers to come in. For the first time, all the stores had some promotions on Thanksgiving Day. A few stores piloted the idea last year. Old Navy also opened at 3 a.m., a record time for the company.

Old Navy District Manager Mitch Reidel said pricing and sales are important, but advertising also played a big role in Old Navy's strategy to attract holiday shoppers.

"With the economy, people are price conscious. We've been able to maintain price points to stay competitive and we've seen a lift in business," Reidel said.

Some of the biggest bargains there were on fleece, sweaters and jeans.

"We started at 4 a.m. The traffic doesn't seem to slow down. The economy doesn't seem to be impacting [the shopping]," Old Navy shopper Susan Poper said. "There's still a lot of people all around and a lot of crowds."

The new Target off of Jefferson Boulevard saw more people wait in line for Black Friday this year.

"I've not seen anything like this. Our advertising's really worked," Target Team Leader Suzanne Lindemann said.

Target is also trying new things this year to attract customers by price-matching its competitors.

"Everyone's looking to save a dollar and whoever has the best deal, that's where guests will go," Lindemann said.

Target is also extending sales to Saturday and Best Buy started some sales a week early.

"We had prices dropping prior to Black Friday, and we've really not seen that before," Wilson said.

But, the stores may be fighting an uphill battle. The National Retail Federation is predicting holiday sales to fall one percent this year.