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“It was well worth the wait,” Foster said, waiting for her husband to help her lug their new Emerson television out of the store and into their car. “I’m just grateful we got everything we did.”
When Foster began shopping, the line at Wal-Mart stretched all the way to S. Broadway. By the time she arrived at Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. the lines had thinned, and were gone all together when she left the store at 5 a.m.
“It’s extremely calm compared to what it used to be,” said Nuria Moore, who showed up for the 5 a.m. sale at Wal-Mart.
This year, Wal-Mart divided its sales into three “events,” beginning at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Moore, of White Plains, said this likely helped mitigate the early-morning rush she had experienced in previous years.
On the other hand, Vanessa Joseph, of White Plains, was disappointed she missed the Black Friday rush.
“I’ve been to numerous Black Fridays, but this one sucks,” she said. “The excitement of getting up at midnight is gone.”
Joseph went bargain hunting early Friday morning looking for a big deal on an even bigger television, but didn’t find what she was looking for at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. She held out hope Sears would have what she was looking for.
Others like Dana Miller, of Tarrytown, found what they were looking for.
“I’m shopping for all my god children, nieces and nephews and, of course, my husband, who needed a tool set,” she said.
Miller’s husband is a mechanic at Westerly Marina in Ossining, and, like many of his co-workers, lost a lot of tools during Hurricane Sandy. Friday, Miller found a tool set for $70 with just what her husband needed. Although it wasn’t a big price reduction, Miller said she would take it.
Many people chose savings over sleep Friday, including Mary Fairdank, who went shopping in White Plains immediately after returning from the New York Jets home game against the New England Patriots Thursday night at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Unlike the result of that game - a 49-19 defeat for the Jets - the Harrison resident said she was happy with the sales she found.
Fairdank’s boyfriend Mike has shopped on Black Friday for the last five years, and was astonished at how empty Wal-Mart was at 5 a.m.
“There was no rush,” he said. “I went to the register and didn’t have to wait in line. It was better than a normal day.”
The Harrison resident convinced Fairdank to join him for the first time this year. The couple kept it simple, buying a few choice DVDs for as low as $2. They did not, however, find the $9 vacuum they sought, and moved on to Target.
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