Occupy Best Buy: Some forego Thanksgiving, others have it delivered as they wait for discounted TVs, computers

First in line at the Dedham Best Buy.

Chris and Mihala, a young couple from Newton, got to the Best Buy in Dedham at 1 a.m. today to await its opening at 1 a.m. on Friday. It was partly so they could pick up a 42-inch TV marked down several hundred dollars and a computer, but also just so they could say they did something like wait outside a store for 24 hours - they'd never done something like that, they'd never even waited in line for concert tickets.

Food? There was takeout. Bathroom breaks? Port-a-Potties around the corner.

Greg Cameron and his wife, from Roslindale, were next to show up - at 8 a.m., followed by Kristina Milonas and her mother, from Norwood. They're more experienced line waiters - they do it every year, deciding which store to wait outside based on the sales. One year it was Target, another year, Wal-Mart, and this year, Best Buy, because of that marked-down TV.

Cameron said he's hoping to get one of those TVs, a DVD player, a laptop and maybe a tablet. Milonas agreed it seems like a lot of time to wait in line, but said the savings make it worth it for people who don't make a lot of money.

The Camerons said relatives delivered them a full Thanksgiving dinner - from turkey to sweet-potato pie - which they ate in their car so as not to annoy the people around them whose might not have such giving relatives. The Milonases said they'll have Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

A determined Milonas waits for a TV.

As we talked, a guy came around handing out bottles of Five Hour Energy to the line, which stretched around the corner from the main entrance all the way beyond the other end of the building by the TGI Fridays.

The scene repeated itself at big-box stores across the area. Kevin Wiles reports the first person in line at the Braintree Best Buy had been there since Tuesday. Jed Hresko photographed the line outside the Back Bay Best Buy:

There was even a line outside the Toys R Us in Dedham, although it seemed to only consist of about 10 people, who looked more like defeated refugees than people awaiting bargains.