6:00 AM, Princeton, New Jersey
After the insanity of Wal-Mart, the Target store around the corner (God bless New Jersey!) seems comparatively calm. Three clerks watch the sleepy shoppers with quiet amusement. Kim Austin has been at the store since 5:30, but says that some staff members have been preparing for the day since 9:00 the night before. “It’s more exciting than exhausting,” she says with a calm smile, and admits that she enjoys watching the customers shop. Ami Patel has been here since 5:15, and is working her second Black Friday, which she wryly describes as “very busy.” Heide Atanasovski notes that the crowds were very orderly coming in, and Kim adds that this Black Friday is a marked improvement over the previous year’s, when people were literally diving for DVD players and fighting as the supply ran out. This year, she says, the store put their featured product, flat screen TV’s, towards the back of the store to avoid congestion.
Heide, Kim, and Ami at Target
Target shoppers shopping