Holiday shopping begins at East Austin Best Buy

AUSTIN, Texas - East Austinites camped out outside a Best Buy in Mueller in hopes of snagging a deal on Thanksgiving ahead of Black Friday.

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The crowd was large but calm at the Mueller Best Buy on Thanksgiving. The line wrapped around the building. Customers sat in lawn chairs, some swaddled in blankets -- braving the cold, and a little bit of rain. 

“[We’re] holding down the fort.” laughed Jaime Navarro, as he waited in line, with his cousin Jason Vargas.

The two say Thanksgiving shopping is a family tradition.

“We do it probably every year. We come with my parents.” Navarro explained. 

Like many, the duo was there for “big ticket” items -- televisions and a laptop. 

It was a flatscreen television that brought Mike Siemen out. He had never been shopping on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. 

“I’m happy, I make my wife happy too.” he said of the purchase. 

According to business consulting firm PwC, almost twenty percent of Americans planned to shop on Turkey Day.