MA shoppers rough out cold weather for Black Friday

Hours before stores even opened for Black Friday, shoppers across the area flocked in front of closed doors to get that perfect deal for the holiday season.

Shoppers in front of Walmart in Seekonk were camped out in tents with portable heaters to rough out the frigid temperatures, way before the store was set to open at 1 a.m.

“We got here at 1 p.m. [Wednesday],” said one woman bundled up in a tent with a group of friends.

Some shoppers may be going for that one special item, but for Seekonk resident Fran Keough, the savings means he’s ready to spend a lot of money.

“We’ll spend at least $4,000 or $5,000 tonight,” he said. “I have three girls so if I buy one laptop, it’s three laptops. If I but one Ipad it’s three Ipads.”

Keough said his family had a meeting Thanksgiving morning and believed the savings were worth it. He said he’s saving at least $1,000.

Farther North, the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets is arguably the central hub for Black Friday in the area.

With new traffic patterns announced this year by police to help limit traffic in local neighborhoods, questions were swirling about how bad back up might be.

Jennifer Donahue is an employee at the outlets who said that the cold weather seemed to keep some shoppers at home this year.

“This is the coldest Black Friday I’ve ever worked so we will see,” she said. “It’s not as much traffic as I’m used to seeing.”

Hazam Ihjul is on his fourth Black Friday at the outlets. He said committed shoppers definitely lucked out.

“Last year when I left at 5:00 a.m. it took me an hour to get home and I’m not even five minutes away,” he said. “It honestly wasn’t too bad.”