Six days in a Best Buy parking lot: A Black Friday tradition
Friday morning capped an amazing week for the Romero family of Norwalk. They spent almost a week camping outside the Best Buy store in Lakewood.
Lining up for Black Friday shopping wasn’t about the deals, they said, it was about the family time.
One hundred sixty-four hours of family time.
Alicia Romero hopped out of her truck at 7:15 a.m. last Saturday to begin what has become a family tradition. “We started six years ago,” she said, as she doled out shopping assignments to a flurry of nieces and nephews who gathered around her.
“And the last four years we’ve been right here,” Romero said.
As many as 40 family members joined her for the camp-out -- pitching tents, running electrical outlets and taking turns showering and grabbing food.
Joining Romero were two of her sisters -- the three sisters come from a family of 10 siblings -- and a hodgepodge of husbands, friends and children. At least two members of the group were always in line while others shuttled back and forth to school and work.
“Some families spend one day together for Thanksgiving,” said Tina Marquez, one of Romero’s sisters. “We spend the entire week together.”
On Friday morning when the doors opened at midnight, the family’s team of a dozen shoppers went to work on an extensive list of must-grab items: 40-inch TVs, Samsung Galaxies and Blu-Ray players all sit near the top.
With more than two dozen items on their list, family members said they weren’t paying attention to the specific sales -- they wanted at least one of everything.
Each member of the family has been given specific items to grab.
“I’m headed straight for the $5 movies,” said 12-year-old Erica Map, who was participating in the family Black Friday for her fourth year. “I’m just going to grab them all and then pick the ones I want while I wait in line to pay.”
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