Pocono News Section

Black Friday Shopping: Part 1

Black Friday Shopping: Part 1 - Friday, November 28, 2008 at 8:34PM EST

Friday, Nov 28, 2008 @ 08:34pm EST

Wilkes-Barre Township -

When doors opened at Target Friday morning, our camera caught a man pushing a woman into a wall. The pushing and shoving turned into a lot of waiting.

Linda Watkings, of Harrisburg says, “This is awful. I never had to wait this long.”

Shoppers scrambled for the deeply discounted doorstoppers.

Kristen Ermak, of Kingston says, “We came for the big TV here. Maybe ten left. I got elbowed for it.”

Carino Noto, of Larksville says, “I got the dual DVD’s for the car. It was $88. Great deal.”

At Circuit City the lines moved smoother when doors opened at 5:00 AM .

Dillion Andrzejewski, of Burlington New Jersey says, “Xbox 360. $200. Good Price? $150 savings so yea, I’d say so.”

Lots of shoppers, but are they spending as much in this sluggish economy?

Melissa Nanni, of Plains says, “I’m only getting things on sale today otherwise I'll wait to see if it goes on sale in the future."

But Target general manager Brad Meyer is optimistic shoppers will spend and spend a lot. He says, “Today is a good determining factor. If it's anything from what we saw out there in the parking lot, it's going to be a great holiday season."

But forecasters aren't expecting strong holiday sales. In fact some predict only a 2 percent growth this year --and that's optimistic. Besides the economy, there are less shopping days because Thanksgiving fell so late. If you're keeping track there are only 27 shopping days left until Christmas.