Black Friday 2011: Shoppers park in front of stores for earlier-than-ever openings

Adam Moore, of Yorktown, pitched his tent in front of Best Buy at 11 p.m. Tuesday.

It's the earliest Moore has ever gone out to score a deal. In fact, this year is his first attempt at Black Friday shopping. The 42-inch Sharp HDTV on sale for $199 was enough to catch his attention, and, along with a little prompting from his wife, Moore decided to embark on a concrete camping trip with two of his cousins.

Best Buy is opening earlier this year than ever before, too. The electronics chain has traded in a 5 a.m. bargain wakeup for a midnight opening. In Newport News, shoppers will be treated to an outdoor showing of the latest Harry Potter movie, beginning at 9 p.m. Thursday.

By that time, the outdoor line will be pretty long, Moore predicts. By late Wednesday morning, a handful of other ambitious shoppers had lined up behind Moore for a two-day campout.

"I guess it's been like camping. It hasn't been too bad," Moore says. He and his cousins arrived equipped with a tent, blankets, chairs, a deck of cards and a portable DVD player. Family members were on standby to bring food and hold the place in line so Moore and his cousins could head home to take a shower.

"The manager did come out to talk to us on Tuesday night," he adds. "He told us that we were fine to sit where we were and that we would mark the front of the line."

Target was one of the first big-box stores to announce a midnight opening this year. Macy's, hhgregg and Kohl's also followed suit.

Walmart will begin in-store Black Friday deals on toys and apparel at 10 p.m. Thursday. At midnight, electronics will go on sale.

More than 30 stores at Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News are opening at midnight, including The Gap, Express and the locally owned boutique, Apricot Lane. At Williamsburg Premium Outlets, which has opened at midnight in past years, about a third of the stores will open the doors at 9 p.m. The popular Coach outlet will open at 10 p.m.

Toys "R" Us will open an hour earlier than last year at 9 p.m., and Kmart, Bass Pro Shops and Michaels will open Thursday morning, as will local drugstore chains.

But the early openings have not been met without some consumer backlash. A Target employee delivered 190,000 petition signatures to the chain's headquarters in Minneapolis Monday, imploring the store to reconsider its sale hours so that employees could spend time with their families on Thanksgiving Day.

"Black Friday is one of the busiest and most competitive shopping days of the year," says Target spokesperson Molly Snyder. "We have heard from our guests that they want to shop Target following their Thanksgiving celebrations rather than only having the option of getting up in the middle of the night. By opening at midnight, we are making it easier than ever to deliver on our guests' wants and needs.

"Target does our best to work around the schedules of all of our team members, making every effort to accommodate their requests. Target will offer holiday pay to those who work on Thanksgiving Day."

A Best Buy employee in Tampa began his own petition, which garnered more than 15,000 signatures, and the website change.org has dozens of anti-Black Friday petitions open for signatures.

"This is ridiculous," says Sarah Kutch, of Gloucester. "What happened to spending time with family on Thanksgiving? Is a stellar deal on a TV really worth missing out on family memories? Sorry. I am an avid saver, but my family will always come first. Deal or no deal."

Store openings

Kmart: 6 a.m. Thursday,

5 a.m. Friday

Bass Pro Shops: 8 a.m. Thursday, 6 a.m. Friday

Michaels: 4 p.m. Thursday,