Shoppers already lining up for Black Friday deals

By Marisol Bello , USA TODAY

Some shoppers refuse to lose out on a bargain — even if it means camping out 24/7 for more than a week.

Edward Regec of Akron, Ohio, helps set up a tent belonging to his son, Tony Avitar, outside the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Best Buy store on Nov. 19, 2013. The father and son hope to find good deals on televisions and laptops. (Photo: Karen Schiely, AP)

Intrepid consumers started lining up Monday at a Best Buy in suburban Akron.

Jonas Allooh was first in line, putting up his 10-person tent to simulate the comforts of home: bed, generator, space heater, TV, game console and microwave oven. Allooh, who graduated in August from Kent State University with a doctorate in audiology, has some time on his hands as he looks for a job.

Camping out for Black Friday deals has become a tradition for him, he says. He’s been doing it for four years with his buddies, who’ve been doing it for about seven years, he says.

“They are seasoned pros,” he says about his friends. “We’ve got a propane heater. And we threw a tarp over the tent to keep out the cold. And we have lots and lots of blankets.”

The hearty shoppers have created a community of people camping out until the post-Thanksgiving sales.

Allooh and his two brothers — they’re identical triplets — and their friends were eager to be first in line, so Allooh set up camp on Monday. Since then, shoppers have erected two more tents.

Allooh is eyeing a 27-inch computer monitor and some gifts for “someone who doesn’t know what we are getting her.” It’s his mom, Molly Sebring, who laughed talking about her son’s urban camping adventure.

Still, he’s not completely sure what, if anything, he wants to buy. “I have plenty of time to look at the flyer,” he says.

For him, it’s more of a social event than a shopping event. Last year, he left right before the store opened and shopped online.

Read the full story by Marisol Bello from USA TODAY.