Retail Camper Marks 19th Black Friday Year In Makeshift Fort Outside Best Buy
ROSEVILLE (WWJ) - A Roseville woman has morphed Black Friday and Thanksgiving into one bigger holiday. Pam Shank has been living in a tent outside the Roseville Best Buy since Sunday.
"People are looking at me I feel like I'm crazy but then they are like, 'good for you, go for it' ... I'm getting a lot of things from here, besides just TVs, I'm looking to save a lot of money," said Shank.
Shank tells WWJ she has three teenagers to shop for and over the years, camping out and waiting for the Black Friday deals has become an annual tradition.
An elaborate structure was created for their consumer camping spree.
A fort built out of two-by-fours is lined with cardboard and tarp, and a makeshift couch inside is made from a lawn chair. As any retail camper would envy - there's a portable heater inside as well.
"We have met some amazing people - they come up here, we don't see them all year long - we just come up here and my husband just threw this together, like, with no planning," she says very matter-of-fact.
Shank has made this an annual ritual for 19 years and says that people who get angry at her for doing this don't understand this is their Thanksgiving tradition.
The experience includes a tailgate turkey dinner, followed the next morning by making breakfast for employees working the holiday and a bonfire Thanksgiving eve.
