Thanksgiving Day Shopping Now A Tradition For Some Tulsans

As some of you get ready to hit the stores on Black Friday, others already did their shopping.

Best Buy’s general manager said this year's Thanksgiving Day shopping crowd is even bigger than last year's, so the trend probably won’t go away anytime soon.

We can probably all agree that Thanksgiving is about family; but that means different things to different people.

Yusef Mallak, for example, finds family in his group of friends who camp out together in front of Best Buy every year.

"We just call each other up two weeks before, and we're like, ‘You ready?’ ‘Of course,’" he said.

They set up their tent Tuesday at noon; and for two days they talked, ate, played video games together - in a way, it’s like family time.

"We had a little oven top, kind of like a burner, that we would make Ramen noodles on. We had a TV, we had an X-box. We had everything in there, everything you could think of," Mallak said.

In line, they waited for tickets that represent a reservation on the store's hottest deals, and there's a limited number of them.

Shopper John Hayes said, "These are the golden tickets Willy Wonka has passed out."

Hayes said he's not missing out on family time; the shopping is just a little break.

"The turn-up is still waiting for me,” he said. “Gonna go home and have some more turkey and enjoy my TV when I unbox it."

For some, family is the very reason shopping is even necessary.

Megan Rappenecker-Olson said, "She's just so responsible with electronics. So we have to replace a TV that was broken."

So whether you're multi-tasking, or you're focused on getting what you want, shopping on Thanksgiving is about the experience, and the people with whom you experience it.

"We're just doing it because it's so much fun," Mallak said.

Some stores have taken a strong stance against opening on Thanksgiving and are waiting until Friday.

Best Buy is open until 1 a.m. and will open again at 8:00 a.m.