Bargain hunters get an early start

Early morning bargain hunters swarmed Triangle stores today looking for $200 laptops and other great deals.

But unlike past days-after-Thanksgiving, shoppers were being ultra selective about where they went and what they bought.

At 4 a.m., when a handful of stores opened, very few people were in line at JC Penney at the Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham.

But in another section of the mall, hundreds of people had lined up for the Belk gift card giveaway, in which the store was handing out gift cards to the first 250 people through the doors. The cards had a surprise balance of anywhere between $5 and $1,000.

Brenton and Katie Marcom were first in line at Belk and said they'd been waiting since 11 p.m. Thursday.

It's a family tradition to shop Black Friday and work together to get the best deals, Brenton Marcom said. Other members of his family had gone to other stores such as Walmart.

"It's exhausting, it's fun, it's exciting to be out here and get deals," said the Wake Forest resident.

But Belk's gift card giveaway was the deciding factor when it came to deciding which department store to patronize, Marcom said.

"[At JC Penney] they're not giving anything away," he said. "It's a snow globe."

Across the street at Best Buy in the Renaissance Center, shoppers lined up as early as Thursday morning to get doorbuster deals.

Among the big draws: an HP laptop for $197 and $49.99 digital cameras.

Friends Mohamed Osman and Imad Ahmad were first in line. The two claimed their places in line at 7 a.m. Thursday.

But Osman -- a Black Friday shopping veteran -- said it was worth it to be first in line. In the last three years, he'd been No. 3, No. 25 and No. 104.

"Every year I come earlier and earlier," said Osman, a Durham resident who is attending UNC-Charlotte. "If you want something bad enough, you'll wait."

But despite the high spirits and good deals, many shoppers said this Black Friday was shadowed by the general state of the economy.

On a deal-driven day, only super good deals will be king, said Ann Farmer of Durham.

"When you're buying gifts, every little bit helps," she said.

By 9 a.m., lines were still 40 people deep, but moving quickly, in Cary's Toys 'R Us store in the Crossroads shopping center. Parking in front of the store was catch as catch can, but other stores in the expansive shopping center didn't seem to have the same crowds.

Kristy Rodriguez decided to brave the crowds with her two sons, ages 4 and 2, to save on the shipping costs she would have been charged if she shopped online. She picked a Thomas the Tank Engine and made another new concession to the shaky economy.

"I'm definitely using cash," she said. "I'll pay for it once and not have to get a bill and pay for it again."

Nearby, at Bed, Bath and Beyond, shoppers hoping to take advantage of a deal that gave them 20 percent of their entire purchase up until 10 a.m. queued up in a line that wrapped around the store, nearly 100 people at one point.

Sharon Jenkins of Fuquay-Varina and her sister Carolyn Downing, visiting from Indiana, hopped out of the store with their purchases destined for another stop: Macy's. The two sisters got up at 3:15 a.m. and had been going from store to store in order to seek out deals. Stein Mart, a favorite of theirs, had some of the best deals, with $10 off a $25 purchase, Jenkins said.

They managed to stop for breakfast, a break that gave the women some much-needed energy.

"We've got a lot more to do," Downing said.

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