MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Yeina Saavedra (left) shares a Best Buy floor plan map with Mallory Leslie while waiting in front of the Christiansburg electronics store at 3:49 a.m. Friday. Leslie said she had been waiting in front of the store since 11:45 p.m. Thursday, only to find out that the laptop she had wanted to purchase was sold out. She ended up buying another, more expensive model.

James Martin arrived at Christiansburg's Best Buy at 8:45 p.m. Thursday. Although many shoppers arrived earlier than that to receive vouchers for the items on their wish lists, Martin decided to stay all night to guarantee he left with what he wanted. As of 4 a.m. Friday, he was the first in line among 200-plus shoppers.

He wanted a GPS for his new minivan.

"I'd have to spend $10,000 on an upgrade to get GPS in the van," he said. Instead, he chose to take advantage of the TomTom sale at Best Buy.

"It was $400. ... Today I'll get it for $175," he said. "You can't beat that."

Bill Woodson, manager of Panera Bread in Christiansburg, joined his employees to hand out coffee to customers waiting in the Best Buy line, which stretched all the way around the building. Woodson set up two serving stations stocked with cups and thermoses of hot coffee and hot chocolate and helped keep waiting shoppers warm from 3 to 5:30 a.m.

"This is the first year we've done this," Woodson said. "We hope to continue this next year and make it bigger and better."

Teresa Maybaum of Christiansburg had Hokie football in mind while choosing her holiday purchases at Belk in the New River Valley Mall. Leaning on a crutch, she rolled a set of suitcases to the checkout line. She had surgery on her leg in late October, but that didn't keep her from shopping.

Maybaum is a die-hard Hokie football fan and said she likes to travel to as many away games as she can. Because most airlines are now charging to check luggage, she wanted to find suitcases small enough to carry aboard. She found a set of two for $29 marked down from $49.