Fearing empty shelves, Black Friday ‘early birds’ head to US stores

With many major U.S. retailers opening their doors to shoppers at 5 a.m. on Friday, early risers ventured out, hoping to find gifts to tuck under the Christmas tree before products sell out.

The day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, known as Black Friday, officially kicks off the year-end shopping season.

In most past years, retailers have hosted ‘doorbuster’ discounts of 50%-or-more-off everything from clothing and toys to TVs, prompting shoppers to line up for blocks outside stores and crowd into malls to scramble for deals.

Francisco Martinez, 22, a delivery driver was one of over 100 people standing outside a Walmart Supercenter in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood of Chicago before 5 am in 20 degree Fahrenheit (-7 degree Celsius) weather.