SoCal shoppers lining up for Black Friday deals

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- Black Friday is starting earlier and earlier and many stores across the Southland were open Thursday to entice shoppers before they sat down for Thanksgiving dinner.

Thousands of shoppers lined up at local stores.

At the Citadel Outlets, shoppers lined up around the corner for the start of a shopping marathon at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving evening. The Commerce mall was staying open for 27 hours - and shoppers were advised the best time to come might be after 1 a.m., when lines might be a little shorter.

At the JCPenney in Glendale store employees were handing out coupons to those in line. Store workers said the prices were the best customers will find all year.

"We're open for 32 straight hours," said Brett Woleber, with JCPenney. "We opened at 2 p.m. today. We had a huge pep rally with our team, everybody's fired up. We will not close until Friday at 10:00."

Black Friday is starting early and many stores across the Southland were open Thursday to help customers get a jump on holiday shopping.

Elsewhere across the region, people camped out for hours in front of Best Buy stores in Burbank and Canoga Park.

At the Burbank Empire Center, thousands of shoppers lined up Thursday night to hit big-box stores like Target and Best Buy to get a jump on the best deals, where stores were staying open until 1 a.m. and opening again early Friday morning.

At the Burbank Empire Center, thousands of shoppers lined up Thursday night to hit big-box stores like Target and Best Buy to get a jump on the best deals.