After the turkey and pie settled in the afternoon, many area residents took part in another annual tradition — Black Friday shopping.
Clothes, shoes, jewelry and especially electronics were the hot buys this year, according to many who waited in cold but not freezing temperatures outside Galesburg retail stores.
At Target, doors opened at 6 p.m. Juan Duart of Galesburg was first in line and said he had been waiting since 3 p.m. to get his hands on some items.
“A 32-inch TV, a DVD player, some games,” Duart said.
Duart says he doesn’t shop for Black Friday deals every year, but he couldn’t resist good deals on TV’s. Meanwhile, at the back of the line, Marcy Shannon of Alpha stopped by to pick up a few Christmas presents.
“Well, we’re not really big Black Friday shoppers so we didn’t really care about waiting in line,” Shannon said.
Just before opening, the line nearly wrapped around the side of the building. It was a similar story at Kohl’s, where Marcus Almaguer of Monmouth was patiently waiting to get inside to grab one of the year’s most popular items.
“Playstation 4 — You get it and you get $75 dollars in Kohl’s cash so you only end up paying $175 for it,” Almaguer exclaimed.
This is the first year the Galesburg Kohl’s has been open.
Store manager Connie Sullivan says a lot of teamwork helps to get ready for the rush of shoppers who come in. However, she says it wasn’t too hectic since the store recently transitioned from a grand opening in September.
