BOYNTON BEACH — A chill wind and full bellies didn't deter the more than 450 early-bird shoppers in the queue at Kohl's late Thursday night waiting for the special midnight opening.
The earliest the department store had opened in the past was 3 a.m., and the line to take advantage of the extra three hours of savings stretched more than halfway around the building and into a darkened side parking lot.
It took a full 10 minutes for the entire line to filter quickly, but calmly inside under the watchful eye of two Boynton Beach police officers. Another 100 or so people were waiting in a completely full parking lot where cars circled searching for open spots.
What brought them? More than 500 advertised specials available between midnight and 1 p.m., including the $100 area rugs on sale for $29.99, which Charlotte Fields was hoping to snag.
"I always do Black Friday at Kohl's," said Fields, a 4-year Black Friday veteran from Lake Worth. "I'm looking for a lot of stuff for my house, so I'm here for kind of selfish reasons."
Fields was the first in line at Kohl's, arriving at 10 p.m. after a less than successful stop at Walmart where she said the crowds were too thick to get to what she wanted and there was some "shoving."
Near the back of the line at Kohl's were Minneapolis residents Jeanne and John Grams who laughed at the "cold front" that left others in line complaining of the chill.
"If we were home we wouldn't be standing in line at this time of night," said Jeanne Grams, noting the high temperatures in Minneapolis recently had been in the 50's.
Grams had her eye on a digital picture frame that was discounted from $159 to $69 with a $30 mail-in rebate.
She wasn't surprised by the hundreds of people and full parking lot.
"It's easier for people to stay up late than get up early," she said about the midnight opening. "People are crazy for sales."
At 11:59 p.m., Kohl's employees were literally running to their stations inside the brightly lit store.
And although Donna Fields accompanied her daughter-in-law on the Black Friday shopping spree beginning Thursday night, she wasn't happy about the earlier hours.
"These people deserve to have time with their families," she said. "They say this is what the consumers want, but that's not true. We'll do whatever they tell us to do."
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