Gwinnett Daily Post

LILBURN -- Even if the family is still finishing dessert, Taurus Womble plans to leave the Thanksgiving table by 7 p.m.

He's going shopping.

The annual Black Friday rush gets earlier every year, but Womble doesn't mind.

For the Lilburn man, Thanksgiving begins with family and football and ends with a wild night of shopping.

"We have to find creative ways to shop," said the father of four. "We always find the deals online, and we kind of plot it out, and usually when I get to the store, we find something that wasn't advertised."

Womble said he will probably start at Walmart, which opens at 8 p.m. today, as does Toys 'R' Us, and then go to Target, which opens an hour later. BrandsMart opens at 10 p.m. and won't close its doors for 24 hours.

And then there are the malls -- all three local megacenters open at midnight for the crush of Black Friday shoppers. (Bass Pro Shops at Sugarloaf Mills will be open beginning at 8 a.m. today, with big sales promoted for Friday.)

"You've got to sacrifice a little bit of time to get what you want. Nothing comes easy," Womble said, adding that his nephew slammed back 5-hour Energy drinks last year but couldn't keep up with the all-night shopping spree. "It's fun, and I got a whole lot of stuff for not a lot of money. ... It just costs me a little bit of sleep."