Tulsa Stores Expecting Crowds Thursday Ahead Of Black Friday

A lot of people are already shopping for holiday deals, and while the biggest surge will be Friday morning, a big crowd is expected Thursday afternoon.

A lot of stores now open the afternoon of Thanksgiving. A few are open all day, but it's increasingly rare for stores to be closed entirely for the holiday.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Woodland Hills Mall has a larger than typical weekday crowd. Some shoppers said they're doing Wednesday what everyone else will start Thursday.

Shopper Natalie Lewis said, "No - too much. It's too much. It's so crowded. No, we'll do it now and get it over."

While Black Friday remains one of the busiest shopping days, online and before Black Friday shopping is spreading out the crowd.

That's eliminated some of the lines at places like Best Buy.

Some stores will be open throughout, like Walmart, and some like Hobby Lobby will remain closed all day.

Woodland Hills started opening on Thanksgiving three years ago and now it's routine because shoppers show up.

"I think you see a crowd that's steady from 6 p.m. on, and you'll see a lot of people Friday and a lot of activity, and a lot of stores will have promotions going on, and it will be extremely busy on both days," said Eileen Neighbors with Woodland Hills.

The Tulsa World brought in 500 early copies of their Thursday paper so shoppers could get an advance look at the ads.

"A lot of people are buying them, right off the bat. It's a good deal," said Bo Worthington with the Tulsa World.

That has appeal to some who were out Wednesday, not so much shopping as making a plan to shop.

Shopper Bailey Wright said, "I guess today, I'm just looking today at the stores to see what I could buy on Black Friday, that's what I'm doing."