Black Friday has become Black Thursday

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The third Thursday of November is reserved for Thanksgiving, but over the last couple years, it has become another shopping day before the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday.

Many stores, such has Target, Walmart, and others, have opened their doors as early as 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Some have missed Thanksgiving dinner with their families just to get some deals.

"I was going to be heading out of town for Thanksgiving dinner, but then I saw the line," said Alicia Shelton. "So I just stopped over, got out the car, started talking to people. About two hours later, I'm still here."

While people waited in line, they had some entertainment. One group used a generator to watch football on their flat-screen TV. Keith Smitt had other ways to pass the time.

"I'm going to get three of the laptop deals, and a TV, and bunch of small stuff," he said, who was the first in line at Best Buy in the Apple Glen Shopping Center.

Smitt said he started camping out in front of the store Wednesday evening. He had a tent, blankets, and food to get him through the long wait.