The Monday Roundup: Holiday Shopping Edition

Shoppers Take To Stores for Holiday Deals

For Nigel Barthalomew, the days leading up to Black Friday and the holiday shopping weekend is a tradition all its own.

For the last six years, Barthalomew, 26, of Laurel spends days searching for Black Friday and holiday deals. He skips Thanksgiving Dinner and sets up tent outside on Wednesday through midnight on Black Friday.

While hundreds line up outside Best Buy on Thursday night for Black Friday, Barthalomew was one of the first.

“What you save her in one day pays for itself,” said Barthalomew, who along with his wife and friend, were guaranteed to snatch up a 42-inch flat screen television for $200 due to the Black Friday discount. “I love doing this.”

And every year Barthalomew in reunited with his unofficial Black Friday family, fellow customers hoping to be one of the first in line.

Mark Acevedo, 16, of Burtonsville comes every year to the Best Buy with his brother Josean Acevedo, 26. And every year they stand next to Barthalomew while waiting in line.

“We’re black family Friday,” he said. “It’s not like we call each other [during the rest of the year].”

Black Friday Fizzles at Laurel Mall

Retailers didn’t see much green on Black Friday in .

Storeowners and managers said the biggest shopping day of the year yielded few shoppers for the mall, according to The Gazette.  Some retailers said it was the worst Black Friday ever in the mall.

“Exactly two people have come in,” Audrey Durr-Poole, owner of the African art store Gallery Imports, told The Gazette. “They thought the mall was closed because they heard about how they were supposed to demolish the parking deck.”

Read more here.