For some people, the weekend before Thanksgiving means house-cleaning and checking their grocery list for the big feast on Thursday. For others, it means setting up a tent in front of Best Buy and settling in for the rest of the week. For these people, at least, Best Buy opening at 6 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day is good news.

Not because they’re going to rush home to eat some turkey, of course. Don’t be silly. The early opening frees them up to shop elsewhere.

In Tampa, Florida, one family has made an annual tradition of camping out at Best Buy every year. Why Best Buy? “I have three kids of my own, my brothers and sisters have kids there’s always something here to buy, new electronics come out every year,” one camper explained to a local cable news channel.

Many of the people camping out this early are doing so because they enjoy suburban pioneering or to spend time with friends or family, and they don’t have their eye on any items. Yet. “I have plenty of time to look at the flyer,” one camper in Ohio told USA Today.

One Wisconsin family makes an annual tradition of the pre-Thanksgiving campout. “That first year on the lawn chair, no, I just thought my daughter’s crazy and I’m crazy for listening,” one woman told a local TV news station. “Now… we get excited probably in September.”

Single-minded focus on the prize was the only thing we had to compliment these early shoppers on! Without that, what do we have? Fun and a sense of community?

Shoppers already lining up for Black Friday deals [USA Today]
Black Friday’s hard core shoppers again set up camp early [Bay News 9]
Trio reunites for Black Friday camp out one week in advance [58 News]

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