AUBURN — Midnight openings are changing the way Black Friday shoppers shop.

They used to get up at 2 or 3 a.m. Now, they don’t go to bed.

Take Katharine Mooney-Thayer. The energetic Poland Spring grandmother and family members were at Walmart when it opened at midnight. Then they went to Kohl’s. Then Tim Hortons.

They were at JCPenney for its 4 a.m. opening. Then Kmart when it opened at 5 a.m.

At 7, they were looking at shoes at Lamey-Wellehan. “From here, we’re going to Kay’s,” Mooney-Thayer said.

Beth Copp of Standish began standing outside Kmart at 9:45 p.m. Thursday. By 4:30 a.m. Friday, she was still outside, prepared for below-freezing temps of 26,  wearing snow pants, boots, a winter jacket and a hat with ear flaps. She had been up since 7 a.m. Thursday.

“I’m getting the General Electric camera,” Copp said. “Buy one and get one free, $149.99. It’s a nice, 16-megapixel camera with 12 times the optical zoom.”

Standing next to her were Kelly Pelletier and her son, Jacob Pelletier, who came for a computer tablet on sale for $99.

They spent the night in line, arriving at 11:30 p.m. Hatless, Kelly was shivering. The Pelletiers and Copp didn’t know each other Thursday, but they considered themselves friends Friday, passing the hours talking and sharing blankets.

Also in line was Hannah Vogel of Lewiston, there for toys for her 3-year-old son. Holding a tattered Kmart flier, she said she had gone through it multiple times, circling what she’d buy.

She started her Black Friday at Kohl’s at midnight, then arrived at Kmart at 1 a.m. The sales are worth it, she said. “I’ll get most of my shopping done in one day.” She tried to take a power nap, but she couldn’t sleep. “I was so wound up.”

The deals were too good to sleep, agreed Jessica Morrison of Lewiston, who was at Kohl’s when it opened at midnight. There were so many shoppers there, two lines to pay for items snaked around the store, Morrison said. “If that store was a bar, you’d have to kick people out.”

Shawn Herrick of South Paris, Laurie Morneault of Oxford and her son, Lloyd Morneault of Lewiston, also skipped sleep.

“We’re out for a little bit of everything,” she said. They started standing in the Walmart line at 7:45 p.m., to discover the store wouldn’t open until midnight. “We’re not happy with that,” she said.

Though shopping violence broke out in some parts of the country, things were relatively calm in Auburn stores, police said.

“Things went very smoothly for us,” said Deputy Chief Jason Moen of the Auburn Police Department. Police estimated there were 3,000 people at Walmart and 1,500 at Best Buy.

“Walmart hired four of our officers from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., which kept the crowds quite orderly,” Moen said.

The Kmart crowd, which appeared to be about 500 strong, was also polite.

Store worker Sharie Quinn, spending her 35th Black Friday working at the Auburn store, staffed the door.

“Is it time?” store manager Joyce Beane asked.

“It’s time!” Quinn answered. “Let’s go!”

Shoppers, excited to get out of the cold and start buying, hooted and hollered as they walked in.

The manager was pleased with the turnout.

“With all the openings that went after midnight, I didn’t know what to expect,” Beane said. “This is awesome.”

Customers would head first to toys and electronics, Beane predicted as shoppers filed in. Before the opening, she walked to the end of the line passing out information. “The spirit of Christmas is with us.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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