Store registers light up

Navigating Wal-Mart’s crowded aisles isn’t easy the day after Thanksgiving, particularly when you’re part of a three-shopping-cart caravan.

But Joanne McCoy of Wallace and her two daughters were women of purpose Friday.

By 4:30 a.m., they had staked out positions near Wal-Mart’s entrance, waiting 1 1/2 hours in freezing temperatures to get a jump on their competition – the other shoppers. When the doors opened, they snapped up the most popular sale toys first.

Bratz dolls for $8.88 and a discount Leappad secure in their carts, the women turned to less-congested aisles.

“Care Bear? Is that cool?” said Tina McCoy, picking out a comforter for her 4-year-old daughter in the bedding department. “Or do we want pink? Should we do princess instead?”

Thousands of Inland Northwest residents pondered those kinds of choices Friday. Many rose before dawn to take advantage of six-hour “early bird” sales. DVDs and plasma TVs flew off the shelves. Shoppers pushed carts laden with clothes, toys and appliances.

Retail employees rose even earlier. Des Parker, who works at Fred Meyer in Coeur d’Alene, set her alarm for 2:30 a.m.

“I have to say traffic was great. There was no one else on the road,” said Parker, who commutes from the Spokane Valley.

A 10-hour day loomed for her. But the shoppers’ adrenaline was infectious. Competitive yet generally courteous, customers gave each other directions to $9.99 drills, and other hot items, then waited patiently in check-out lines.

“It’s a great time to be in retail. You get to see the hard work go out the door,” said Steve Valentine, the Coeur d’Alene Fred Meyer’s store director.

The day after Thanksgiving ranks among the store’s busiest sales days, he said. People buy a lot of their big ticket items, particularly electronics, Valentine said.

U.S. consumers will spend nearly $220 billion this year on holiday shopping, according to projections from the National Federation of Retailers.

For many retailers, the Christmas holidays are their make-or-break season. Sales between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can account for 25 percent to 40 percent of a store’s annual sales. So the 50-percent-off specials, designed to draw shoppers in the door, are critical.

Cathy and Roger Gardner hit Sears at 6:30 a.m. for $49.99 digital cameras.

“Believe it or not, it was his idea,” said Cathy Gardner. “Normally, we don’t like to fight the crowds.”

But Friday was one of the few opportunities the Rathdrum couple had to Christmas shop together. Roger Gardner works as a delivery man for Schwans. December is one of his busiest months.

The cameras were for their kids, who like to take pictures. Midmorning, the couple were struggling to think of other gift ideas for their two teenage sons. Something besides video games, said Cathy Gardner.

“The girls are easy, and the boys are hard,” she sighed.

Sherri Osborne’s husband gets one of the same Christmas presents every year: new Levis. He’s a machinist, and he’s hard on jeans.

“Every year I stand in line for an hour to get him two new pairs,” said the Spirit Lake woman, who was part of a long line at Tri-State Outfitters. But at $23 – nearly half off – it’s worth waiting in a line that snaked around the store, she said.

Karla Andersen also was buying Levis for her husband. He’s in Afghanistan, working for a Department of Defense contractor.

The jeans will be a little touch of home for Coeur d’Alene resident Steve Anderson, who sends his wife vivid accounts about life on Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

“He wears them all the time, nothing but 501s,” his wife said.

Skip Hunter and his wife split Christmas shopping duties on Friday. He hit ShopKo to buy a phone for his daughter, while his wife braved the rush at Wal-Mart. They kept in touch by cell phone.

The couple expected to spend $300 to $500 on Friday, about one-third of their Christmas budget. They put money away from each paycheck, so they have a Christmas fund, Hunter said.

“The cart is already heaping,” Hunter reported from the Wal-Mart snack bar, where he waited for his wife to emerge from one of 27 check-out lines.

“She’s got a food saver, CDs, a deep fryer … She found the Hot Wheels cars for the grandson, and now she’s looking at scarves for our future daughter-in-law.”