Despite cold temperature, early deals shoppers continue Black Friday traditions

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Pushing aside folding chair poles and fuzzy blankets inside the trunk of her small SUV, Patricia Cortez placed her Target bags inside.

Rosa Cossyleon, Cortez’s sister, said they, plus their brother and sister-in-law, got to the Target at Highland Grove Shopping Center at 3 a.m. on Black Friday. They used the folding chairs and blankets to camp outside the store, until it opened at 6 a.m., she said.

Cortez, 38, of Schererville, said the hardest part was the temperature seemed to get colder the closer it got to sunrise. By 6 a.m., there were more than 100 people waiting outside the store, Cossyleon said.

Their goal, Cossyleon said, was to get the store’s Black Friday goody bag promised for the first 100 shoppers. An added bonus, she said, was