For the past decade, Phyllis Boice has spent her Thanksgiving sitting in the parking lot of Best Buy in Cuyahoga Falls.Boice, who lives in Stone Creek near New Philadelphia, drives more than an hour to get to the store. She, like the other die-hard shoppers who line up outside the store, is there for the deals. But she’s not looking for herself. She’s on the hunt for gifts for her family.“I’ve actually got enough,” said Boice, 56, who went to Best Buy about 1 p.m. Thursday after working that morning at her job at a homeless shelter in New Philadelphia.This year, Boice is hoping to get new Xbox 360s for her son and grandson. In the past, she’s gotten laptops, PlayStations, televisions and cameras for her loved ones.Boice, who was toward the back of the line of a half-dozen tents outside the store, was pleased about the store opening earlier than usual — at midnight Thursday, rather than later in the morning. This meant that she wouldn’t have to stay overnight.“It’s a good thing,” she said. “Sometimes it gets cold.”The early shoppers, though, weren’t all in agreement about whether the pushed-back opening time was a good change.Clayton Sethman of Kent said the earlier opening messed up his ritual with his friends who camp out in the store’s parking lot each year. The group of eight has a decked-out tent with a generator, television and Xbox 360 that they use to play Rock Band to pass the time. In the past, he said they would scatter to have Thanksgiving dinner with their families and then meet back in the parking lot by that evening, when they’d have lots of time to hang out before the store opened the next morning.This year, though, store officials told the shoppers they’d have to pack up their tents and gear by about 8 p.m. to get ready for the midnight opening.“There’s not time for us to do anything,” grumbled Sethman, who said he appreciates the time with his friends as much as the good buys.Other shoppers also enjoy the experience. Shirley and Anita Keifer, a daughter and mother from Springfield, sat outside in the sunshine Thursday afternoon with Robert McKain of Tallmadge, their new friend and fellow deal seeker.“You can still be polite and do Black Friday,” Shirley Keifer said. “I always make friends and meet interesting people.”The shoppers knew where they were in the line and that most everyone was there for the store’s great television deal — a 42-inch LCD for $199.99. They weren’t sure how many the store would have or whether they’d be close enough in the line to get one.“If they only have 10, we’re screwed,” Shirley Keifer said.If McKain didn’t get a TV, he planned to head to Walmart, which also had a good deal — a 40-inch LCD for $248. His nephew was already in line for him at the Walmart in Brimfield Township to get him a new laptop.Shirley Keifer wasn’t as worried about the new TV.“This is a want — not a necessary item,” she said. “I can make do with my 32-inch.”Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.