Holiday shoppers brave cold, crowds

SAUGUS – Despite cold weather or competing online deals, Black Friday shoppers in Saugus insisted the long hours spent waiting in line are worth it.By 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving, there were more than 100 people in line outside the entrance of Best Buy at Square One Mall. Lynn resident Jayne Emmons sat in her camping chair second in line, bundled in a jacket with a sleeping bag across her lap, where she had been since 10:30 a.m.?It will be worth it once you get it,” Emmons told her co-shopper Terrance Brooks, who was not as optimistic in the face of Thursday?s freezing temperatures. For Brooks, a rookie Black Friday shopper, the cold was enough to keep him away next year.Brooks was not alone in discovering the wait for midnight outside the store. The Associated Press reported that IBM Benchmark, which tracks e-commerce for 800 retailers, said online sales on Thanksgiving were up 19.7 percent from last year and according to preliminary data, online sales for Black Friday rose 9 percent. Others are saving their clicking for Cyber Monday.In an Itemlive.com poll Friday evening the competition wasn?t close, with 60 percent of voters opting for online shopping and 40 percent who said they liked to shop in brick-and-mortar stores.But the line at Best Buy, which had doubled by 11:30 p.m., was full of shoppers who agreed there was nothing better than being at the store in-person the minute it opened, either for experience or necessity.Emmons said she wouldn?t be satisfied until her desired Dell laptop was in her hands, and didn?t want to wait weeks for shipping. But farther down the Best Buy line, Revere resident Leanne McPherson said with four kids, the best deals were the only option.McPherson, who sat double-checking her kids? Christmas lists, said her son asked for the new Xbox One and it wasn?t available online. Mike Oxmall of Saugus, who sat next to McPherson, said he had the same problem with the Vizio TV and Blu-ray player he wanted. “I think they pulled it offline to get people in the stores,” Oxmall theorized.Jenn Gurdines of Lynn, in line on Thanksgiving night for the third year in a row, said she will often come out on Black Friday for in-store incentives, like last year when she received a camera and bag when she purchased a perfume for her daughter.Some were just there for the experience and a good deal. Stephanie Pichardo from Dorchester came with a big group of girls, and waited outside the main entrance to the mall to hit her favorite clothing stores, Macy?s and H&M. A group of Melrose teens hoped to score deals on sneakers at Champs.Over at Kmart, the store was busy but quiet with shoppers who were already in the store just after midnight. Nicky Labonte, a Revere resident traveling back from New Hampshire who stopped at the store, said he was happy to see Massachusetts stores were “more civilized.”?At the Kmart in New Hampshire, there are people lined up and down the aisles to get to the cash registers,” said Labonte.But for some, the appeal was in the struggle. Wakefield resident Gerimiah Jones strolled out of Kmart with his wife around 12:30 a.m., laughing that he only saved $6 after all the trouble. “We like to hang with the crazies,” he said.