SOUTH PORTLAND — There was a long line outside Best Buy at the Maine Mall when Wendy Bunney-Benner arrived for the tech store’s 5 a.m. opening on Black Friday.
So she scooted over to the nearby Walmart in Scarborough to pick up a $120 air fryer for just $65.
“I left and came back,” Bunney-Benner said, standing outside Best Buy again around 6 a.m. “Walmart was dead. I walked in, got what I wanted and walked out.”
Retailers are expecting bigger crowds than last year on Black Friday, but supply chain problems continue to limit selection while ongoing concerns about coronavirus transmission are expected to keep many shoppers away, The Associated Press reported. Consumers are expected to pay higher prices on gifts this year as a result of the disruptions.
Customers lined up waiting to be allowed into Best Buy in South Portland before 6 a.m. on Black Friday. The store opened at 5 a.m. and allowed customers in about 25 to 50 people at a time. Michele McDonald/Staff Photographer
People started gathering outside Best Buy around 3 a.m. Friday, geared up for the promise of special deals on televisions, cell phones and other sought-after items.
But though the line of a few hundred people eventually snaked along the mall sidewalk, past several closed storefronts to the now-closed Sears, it was clear that many were there for the experience as much as the bargains.
Bunney-Benner, a bartender who lives in Limington, said she always ventures out on Black Friday, even though now she could get most of the deals early and even shop online from the comfort of home.
“I like coming out and watching all the people,” said Bunney-Benner, 50. “I do it every year, and I’m usually done by now. But it’s not like it used to be. There’s hardly anybody out here now.”
Similar early openings occurred at Kohl’s, JCPenney, Macy’s, Lowe’s, The Home Depot and Target.
This story will be updated.
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