Tulsa Shoppers Line Up Early To Beat Black Friday Rush

Woodland Hills Mall opened its doors to shoppers Thursday night, along with many other stores trying to beat the Black Friday rush.

Thousands of shoppers showed up for the pre-Black Friday madness, most were on a mission and knew exactly what they were after.

The line started then quickly grew; Brock Smith was the first in line at one entrance.

Smith: "I'm trying to go to Hot Topic and get some exclusive Funko Pops.”
Melissa: “What are those things?”
Smith: “They are bobble heads."

Shopper Louis Castonon said, "Wanted to get the Xbox One and different stuff from the Microsoft store."

With Apple closed Thanksgiving night, Microsoft was definitely one of the busiest stores.

"I'll save some money and thought I would try it for once, I've never tried it before,” Castonon said.

The shoppers couldn't wait to get inside as soon as the doors opened.

Connie Sauder and her sister-in-law, Kim Roberts, said coming to Woodland Hills Mall on Thanksgiving night is part of their holiday routine.

"It's a family tradition,” she said. “This is what we do now, is go do some shopping,” Sauder said.

Roberts said, "We had a Thanksgiving lunch at 1:00 and looked through all the ads, and now we are out hitting the sales."

Sauder and Roberts said they didn’t think the crowd is quite as big this year.

“The rain slowed people down, maybe. We didn't have to fight very much, traffic or people," said Sauder.

The early bird shoppers all agreed they wouldn't be back on Black Friday and were glad they got it out of the way.

The mall will close at 1:00 a.m. and re-open at 6:00 Friday morning. The mall director said if you want to beat the big crowds, it's better to come as early as possible.