Black Friday started a day early for many shoppers, as Thanksgiving morphed into the unofficial kickoff of the Christmas holiday shopping season.
Premidnight openings at some retailers, including Sears, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us and Walmart drove crowds directly from the holiday feast to the spending fest.
Stacy Spigarelli, of Duryea, started her overnight adventure at 8 p.m. Thursday at Target in Wilkes-Barre Twp., where she bought two televisions. She also went to Walmart and the Wyoming Valley Mall before taking a break.
"I slept for about three hours and came back out," Miss Spigarelli said as she exited Christmas Tree Shops at the Shoppes at Montage at about 6:45 a.m.
The outing was an endurance contest for many in search of steep discounts. Some make the effort because they enjoy the tradition and camaraderie.
"Where else can you get a deal like this?" Kunal Patel, 29, said, pointing to two carts full of household items as he stocked up at Kohl's in Dickson City.
Mr. Patel and his wife, Bela Patel, 28, married last July, so they shopped for items to furnish their new apartment.
"You just have to have patience for the lines," Mr. Patel said.
Standing behind the Patels, Ruth Chapman, 59, of Scranton, was impressed by the joviality among shoppers.
"We're becoming fast friends," she joked about the other shoppers in line. "We might spend the next holiday together."
Some shoppers actually spent days together, camping out at Best Buy in Dickson City since Tuesday, store manager Eric McFarland said.
"I think with the economy, people are looking for the best prices possible," he said.
Keri Erfman, of Duryea, took advantage of competitive prices on boots, rounding up seven pair on sale for $25 each at JC Penney in the Wyoming Valley Mall shortly after the store opened at 6 a.m. Five are for her and two are for her mother, Ms. Erfman said.
"I can never get nice boots like this for a good price that last so long," she said. "I was one of the first in here and I ran right over here."
For others, though, like Joan Holyk of Scranton, the outing is a seasonal ritual.
"It's a tradition. We've done it for the last five or six years, my daughter and I," Ms. Holyk said as she looked at handbags at Boscov's in the Mall at Steamtown. "I really started doing this for the fun of being out at sunrise."
Overnight temperatures of about 30 degrees failed to chill the spirits of some determined shoppers.
Ed Sopinski Jr. had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he stood in an aisle of the Best Buy in Dickson City after waiting 2½ hours to get into the store. His wife was looking for a laptop for their daughter, who is a senior in high school.
"If my daughter wasn't going to college next year, I wouldn't be here," he said.
Connecticut resident Susan O'Brien went to Best Buy alone after her sister-in-law, Rachel Swierzewski, drove to the store but balked at the size of the crowd.
"When she saw the line she just dropped me off," Ms. O'Brien said with a laugh.
Kendra Balendy, of Scranton, started her trek at Walmart at 3 p.m. on Thursday and by 12:30 a.m. Friday, she was among the first people waiting in line at the Shoppes at Montage for a promotional gift-card giveaway. The complex distributed cards to the first 250 people in line.
"It's fun. I like doing this," Ms. Balendy said about 20 minutes before the 7 a.m. card distribution.
The chilly conditions nearly deterred sisters Victoria and Ali Nytch, both of Scranton, who went to Best Buy in Dickson City and rode out a lengthy wait in line.
"The strategy is to get into the store," Ali Nytch said, with a laugh.
In Wilkes-Barre, customers began lining up at Boscov's at 2 a.m. for a promotional gift-card distribution. The store opened at 4 a.m. and all the cards were claimed by 4:30, store manager Tony Georgetti said.
That store was the third stop for Katie Christopher, of Wilkes-Barre, who had waited more than 2½ hours at Best Buy to buy a laptop computer.
"I will have over half my shopping list done by the time I get home today," she said.
Some Black Friday shoppers go beyond their initial strategy and make spontaneous purchases.
Ms. O'Brien, the Best Buy shopper who later surfaced at Kohl's, said she spent $1,000, including an impulse buy of a robotic floor vacuum.
Mrs. Holyk said she became caught up in the consumer rush and wondered about the wisdom of some purchases.
"You buy things you don't even need," she said. "I bought them because everybody else is buying them."
DENISE ALLABAUGH and CECILIA BARESS, staff writers, contributed to this report.