Black Friday shoppers hit sales on Thanksgiving in Gilroy

Black Friday sales are already well under way on Thursday night. Many stores opened a day early, just to extend the holiday rush. NewsChannel 5 found out why shopping on Thanksgiving, is actually a trend that’s building momentum.

This year shoppers are cutting out of their turkey dinners early, to brave the crowds. Opening doors on Thanksgiving evening is a relatively new thing and more stores are catching onto the idea. We found out shoppers at the Gilroy Premium Outlets said they’re excited to jump on the opportunity.

Lines are long, but shoppers are patient and deep discounts are their motivation. Some people are making it an international trip.

“Crazy, but it’s fun,” said Shauna Comazzetto, who traveled from Canada to shop.

For many, the fear of bare shelves and slim pickings, makes early shopping look pretty attractive.

“We even rented a hotel room, we’re gonna spend the night,” said shopper Sam Patel.

But some are trying it out for the first time and plan to decide how it went, after they’re done.

“I’ll try to protect myself, keep myself safe. But I think it will be very chaotic. I think, from what I’ve seen so far,” said shopper Arfin Saieri.

Certain sales only last until supplies are gone. Just to entice you a little bit more, a lot stores will giveaway special items just for buying on Black Friday.

“We come here twice or three times a year and we decided to make this Black Friday an event for us,” Patel said.

“Macy’s, Kohls, JC Penny’s, anywhere else we can go,” Comazzetto said.

Others are only looking for high end purchases.

“Basically things from Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade, anything that’s on sale basically,” Saieri said.

A lot of shopping centers have additional parking and special signage to keep the experience organized.

Some who’ve braved it before, say they’re willing to do it again.

“We came Memorial and then Labor Day weekend and we were like, it’s end of the summer stuff, everything was picked over. We’ll come Black Friday, the winter stuff will be here,” Patel said.

Many stores open on Thursday night, plan to stay open through Friday night. But if you aren’t able to make it out, most retail stores continue sales through the end of the weekend.