While visiting his grandparents in North Haven, Noah Niles, 12, of Saco, Maine, braved the hustle and bustle of Black Friday with his father, Steve, and uncle.
The three went out Thursday night and hit several big box stores, including Walmart, Target and Big Buy, shopping for a laptop, movies, video games and other bargain-priced items.
Stopped at the shortly after noon on Friday, Noah laughed when he was asked what he had bought. He couldn’t say with his sister standing next to him, he said, even though she offered to hold her hands over her ears.
The Black Friday sales drew many shoppers out, even those who didn’t intend to buy much.
Laura Webster of Wallingford traveled to Hamden for a special sale at .
She said she previously bought soft fleece fabric for $6.99 a yard, but the store dropped the price to $1.49 a yard for Black Friday.
"I returned it and bought more," she said. Webster, a special education teacher, said she planned to make scarves out of it for her students.
Meanwhile, her daughter was at Old Navy across the street shopping for jeans.
Webster said last year she and some friends stood in line for the stores to open on Thursday night and bought five flat screen televisions for $199 each. They gave one away for an auction to benefit the family of a police dispatcher who had died in a highway accident.
This year, however, she planned to give gift cards for Christmas. "We’ve scaled back," she said.
Early in the afternoon, Lisa Russo of Northford arrived at the with her children shopping for jeans.
"I heard it was hectic this morning, but I didn’t go out," she said. "It doesn’t look bad now," she added.
At Walmart, Salvation Army bell ringer Arlene Johnson welcomed shoppers going in and out of the store.
"People are generous no matter where I go," she said. "I’m doing this for my Lord."
