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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Thrifty people always seek out great sale items when checking off their holiday shopping lists this time of year, but only the most hardcore bargain hunters get up before dawn on Black Friday.
That post-Thanksgiving tradition continued early Friday morning, when hundreds of dedicated sale-seekers got in line outside of the main entrance of the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville to be among the first to bust through the door and kick off the holiday shopping season with gusto.
With some gathering outside the mall as early as 4 a.m. to get a good spot in line to await the opening of the doors at 6 a.m., the queue wrapped along the sidewalk past the former Macy’s location long before sunrise. The crowd was spared from frigid temperatures that have gripped Black Fridays in the past, but a steady drizzle of rain tested their tenacity.
"They’re always here to have some fun," Candi Noble-Greathouse, marketing director at the Ohio Valley Mall, said. "It is the official kickoff to the shopping season."
The first 250 shoppers through the door received swag bags full of coupons, fliers and miscellaneous gift items from mall merchants. A total of 200 giveaway bags also contained randomly placed candy bars with codes for a chance to win gift cards valued between $10 and the grand prizes of $500, along with other valuable prizes. While most Black Friday shoppers brave the throng for door-buster savings, the early birds are often eager for a chance to be the big winner.
"They have the whole holiday season to claim these prizes, but a lot of them want to know right away what they’ve won," Noble-Greathouse said.
It took about an hour of patrons checking candy bar codes at the customer service station inside the mall before a grand prize winner claimed the $500 gift card.
Hayden Seckman, who got up early to shop with his girlfriend, Caila McConkey, both of Cambridge, said he was happy they made the trek.
"I told her I really didn’t even care about what was in the Christmas bag, but when we were in line to check the candy bars, I told her ‘it’s in my bag,’" Seckman said of the grand prize winner.
And he was right.
"I had only been Black Friday shopping one time before," he said, noting they may have to make it an annual tradition if this year’s good fortune is any sign of things to come.
Larry Cassidy of Cadiz arrived in line with his crew at around 4 a.m. to try his luck, and walked away with a $200 swag bag prize.
"I’m going to Disney World!" Cassidy joked, noting that this was his first early morning Black Friday experience. "We were about 70 or 80 people deep in line, and it was raining. But, hey, it was worth it. We’ll do some shopping now, and I’m sure we’ll be back to do more shopping later."
Lori Orr of St. Clairsville dropped her daughter off for work just before 6 a.m. and decided to jump in line since she was there just before the doors opened anyway.
"I didn’t get a gift bag - they ran out when there were about 30 people still ahead of me," Orr said. Nonetheless, she was still able to knock out some shopping during door-buster hours. "It’s apparently a tradition for some people who do it every year."
It was a true family tradition for Doty Toohey and her crew from Barnesville. Several family members made it in time to get their hands on swag bags - all with candy bars and all with $10 gift cards.
"Our mom made us do this when we were younger, and now we bring the family with us," Toohey said, noting that they all try their luck with the prizes, get some shopping done and all go out for breakfast. "We have a lot of fun just doing it together."
The Ohio Valley Plaza was bustling with shoppers before dawn on Friday, as well, with Lowe’s, Walmart and other retailers opening their doors at 6 a.m. for Black Friday specials. Many die-hard holiday shoppers were eager to get out and about Friday morning for the annual shopping blitz, which in most cases reverted back to Friday since COVID-19 seemed to hit the reset button on shopping rituals in 2020. Before that, retail stores seemed to be competing to see which chain could open its stores earlier on Black Friday to the point where most started opening the day before on the holiday, with sales kicking off on Thanksgiving Day.
This year, however, most big box retailers remained closed on Thursday and went back to holding their big sales on Friday morning.
Shoppers now have about four full weeks of holiday shopping before Christmas. Later in December, the Ohio Valley Mall’s holiday hours of operation will expand to help give last-minute shoppers a fighting chance to get it done before the shopping season hits the Christmas Eve deadline.