Black Friday shoppers flock to Citadel Outlets in Commerce

COMMERCE, Calif. (KABC) -- Customers visited the Citadel Outlets in Commerce in search of the best Black Friday deals, with some shoppers spending more than eight hours jumping from store to store.

Phil Fabian stood outside the Nike store at the Citadel Outlets Thursday night with his family waiting for doors to open at 8 p.m..

"I'm a sneaker head. I like shoes and they have good deals at the factory outlets," Fabian said.

Devin Benitez waited to get a taste of the doorbuster experience outside Target at The Empire Center in Burbank, where doors opened at 5 p.m. Thursday evening.

"I wanted to be first," Benitez said, adding, "I've been freezing."

Benitez was a close second.

A group of USC students from India left with dozens of bags after arriving at the outlets at 8:30 p.m.

By 4:30 a.m. Friday, they had visited several stores and left with heavily marked down items.

"The spirit of Christmas, that is keeping us alive," one student said.

"And the deals too," another student chimed in.

Whatever the reason people were out shopping on Thanksgiving, they were likely to run into one thing - lines.

Mat Gleason of Los Angeles said he didn't mind the Moonlight Madness lines at the Citadel Outlets.

"We got here at 7:05 and they're going to open at eight o'clock, and we'll be shopping 'til we drop," Gleason said.

Then there's the unexpected - snow in Commerce, or at least something that looked like it.

It was good enough to make Anabel Morales believe it.

"It's just because it never snows here and I like it," Morales said.

It made Sofia Isabel Saavededa Siguenza's night. She visited the Citadel Outlet all the way from Mexico City and said it made her very happy to watch it fall from above.

"We like to go to the outlet after we eat and just shop and get presents for all the families and friends," Fabian said.

For Benitez, it was the start of a tradition that was never meant to be.

"It's not worth it," Benitez said.