Wichitans hunt for deals amid rain, cold temperatures (+video)

Generally soupy weather Thanksgiving Day – as well as an uptick in online shopping – kept many Black Friday shoppers at home in Wichita on Thursday.

Those willing to brave the cold, however, were able to find their items in stores that seemed much less crowded than they have been the past few years.

National organizations are still anticipating an increase in Black Friday sales across the country over 2014.

The National Retail Federation estimates 135.8 million people will shop this weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. The trade group expects about 30 million to shop on Thanksgiving, compared with 99.7 million on Black Friday.

Black Friday deal times have crept steadily earlier on Thursday, and this year most stores opened or had their sales around 5 or 6 p.m.

Many of the Black Friday “doorbusters” – the deals people camp outside for hours waiting for – were long over by 9 p.m. Thursday.

The ‘thrill of the hunt’

Why do Wichita shoppers still want to camp out and wait for Black Friday deals in 2015?

It’s all about “the thrill of the hunt,” said Brad Jones, who was near the front of the line at SuperTarget in far northeast Wichita.

“It’s almost like hunting for sport or something – it’s a challenge, and it makes this so much fun,” Jones said.

From the way Jones and three eager deal-seekers were interacting near the door, one could easily confuse them as family members.

One thing they had in common: They were all dressed for a trip through the Alaskan Tundra.

Jones was at SuperTarget by 2 p.m. His friends were there by 2:30 p.m. The store’s deals started at 6 p.m.

Together, they endured the near-freezing temperatures by sharing blankets, saving each other’s spots in line when one went to get coffee and bringing back food for each other to munch on.

“Once you get out for a few hours, you get acclimated to the misery,” Jones said. “You basically forget what it was like to have comfort.”

Jones originally planned on buying an Xbox One, but was “talked into” buying a 4K HDTV, since he was already near the front of the line.

“A lot of times I’ll go hunting for gifts that aren’t even for me,” he said. “I’ll pick up gifts that other people want to give, because for me it’s just the challenge of doing this. I’m hooked on it.”

Most of the shoppers interviewed in the SuperTarget line thought fewer people had come out this year because of an uptick in online shopping.

“With the way the weather’s supposed to be this weekend, people are going to do a lot of online shopping,” said Katrina Morgan, who was near the front of the SuperTarget line.

Jones said there are benefits to shopping at a brick-and-mortar store, though – primarily the immediacy of having the items you are shopping for.

“Online, 1,000 might sound like a lot but when you’re talking nationally, 1,000 is not that many,” he said. “By the time you get through, there’s no guarantee you got it. The chances are better going out and getting it than staying at home.”

Just a few miles to the west, Best Buy’s lines were also shorter than in previous years. Shoppers waiting in line said that could possibly be attributed to the store’s policy of handing out vouchers for Black Friday items valid for a certain amount of time after the sale began at 5 p.m.

Brandon Massingill was near the middle of the line with a few friends, waiting to buy some PlayStation 4 games, about an hour before Best Buy opened.

He said he noticed more people waiting in their cars, entering the store after the line had died down.

“It’s just the hassle of waiting out here in the cold,” he said.

Dispatches from Wal-Mart

Black Friday is likely the only time of year that you’ll spend 20 minutes searching for Blu-ray movies only to find them in front of the bacon and pepperoni slices. And by the time you find them, the movies will be picked over.

The vacuum cleaners were with the cereals, and the laptops were with the light bulbs.

Wal-Mart is open 24/7, but its Black Friday “doorbusters” were supposed to start at 6 p.m. All of the items were wrapped together in cellophane or paper and store employees cut them free at 6 p.m.

Except for the Rachael Ray 17-piece cookware sets, advertised for $97.

Shoppers at the Wal-Mart at 29th and Rock tore into those about five minutes before 6 p.m., despite Wal-Mart workers’ admonitions. After grabbing the orange-colored cookware, shoppers darted off to find their next deal before supplies sold out.

All the while, 74-year-old Cliff Medsker was just trying to finish his grocery shopping.

He said he was shopping on Thursday to avoid “Black Friday shoppers” actually shopping on Friday.

“I was trying to get down the aisle to get the Popsicles and they were blocking the aisle,” Medsker said. “They said, ‘We’re trying to get ready for these $28 tablets,’ so I went in there, got my Popsicles, and pretty soon I came back and said, ‘Let me see that $28 tablet.’ ”

He was hoping to finish his shopping before 6 p.m., to avoid the rush of shoppers but also to make sure his Popsicles wouldn’t melt.

He was able to pick up chili beans, but just barely.

“It got a little cramped down one of the aisles where the beans were at,” he said. “They wouldn’t let me go past halfway, you know; they had the TVs there.”

Contributing: Associated Press

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Wichitans hunt for deals amid rain, cold temperatures (+video)."