While the sky was still dark and some were sleeping off their Thanksgiving food, countless brave souls headed out in the hunt for a good deal on Black Friday.
Shortly after 5 a.m. Marc and Stephanie Parent were in the parking lot at Target in Hadley loading their trunk with recently acquired toys.
The couple from Granby went holiday shopping while their two young children stayed at home sleeping in the care of a family member.
They came out for the sales and were on their way across Route 9 to find a deal at Home Depot.
Walking down the Target aisles lined with toys, Michelle Bishop and her sister Kim Parker picked items off the shelf to add to their carts. Both mothers of two children, the women and their own mother hit the stores around 1:30 a.m., unable to sleep, according to Bishop, of Easthampton.
That was the earliest they had ever gone out on Black Friday, though the sisters have been shopping for years on the day after Thanksgiving, Bishop said.
“We always say it’s time to fill the sleigh,” Bishop said. “We don’t go home until the sleigh is full,” added Parker, of Wales.
Bishop said she had prepared a shopping list for the day and forgot it on kitchen table, so instead, she said her daughter’s voice was in her head saying “I want this, this and this.”
Around 5:45 a.m., John Gibbons, of Amherst, pushed his newly acquired television through the aisles of Target. Gibbons and his son were out at 5:30 a.m. for the purchase.
“I just saw an inexpensive TV and thought I would pick it up if I could,” Gibbons said.
Not normally a Black Friday shopper, Gibbons said buying the television was all the shopping he had planned for the day.
Shortly after 6 a.m., Sacha Matthews pushed his cart around Home Depot in Hadley. With a coffee in his hand, Matthews had already been to Target and Wal-Mart before he hit the home improvement store with his brother-in-law.
Matthews was in town for Thanksgiving from Falmouth, Maine. He said he normally shops on Black Friday but doesn’t get all of his holiday shopping done on the day.
Ron Talbot, of Whately, was at Home Depot shortly after it opened.
“My wife gave me a list and that’s what I’m trying to do — fulfill this, make her happy,” Talbot said. What was on the list? A wreath, poinsettias and a gift for his granddaughter.
Later Friday morning in downtown Northampton, the shopping theme focused on buying local.
After Bag Day on Nov. 19, local businesses are now looking toward Small Business Saturday. It was started in 2010 by American Express as a promotion for the financial services company, focusing attention on shopping at small businesses between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
At The Grateful Hound, owner Maggie Granquist said she didn’t know what to expect from the holiday weekend. The store at 114 Main St., which sells treats and toys for dogs, is running its Black Friday sale through Sunday as well as a separate online deal.
While the store’s original location in Savannah, Georgia, has been open for five years, the shop in Northampton has been open only since March.
Nearby, at Essentials, 88 Main St., Claire Wyzenbeek and John Giangregorio along with their adult daughter Lydia Giangregorio continued their annual family tradition.
The family, in town from Gloucester, spends Black Friday shopping along Main Street.
“We are here every Thanksgiving,” Wyzenbeek said. “The day after, we always do our shopping in Northampton.”
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com