San Jose residents rush to make last-minute Thanksgiving preparations

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Thanksgiving is almost here and the rush to get everything done is on. Meet Maha Elseroughi. She braved the crowds at Costco in San Jose.

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Elseroughi headed straight to the turkey section because she's hosting 20 people. Like many others here, she is rushing to get all her shopping done for Thanksgiving.

"I've been to Costco 4 times this week," exclaimed Elseroughi.

Some people came with a game plan...even calculating the best time to come.

"We try to be specific about what time to come today, we thought lets go when everybody is having their dinner," said Susan Newman, a San Jose resident who was clutching her shopping list.

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But at 5:30...the parking lot at the Almaden Plaza was full and inside the aisles were bustling. It's not just grocery stores experiencing the surge, retailers like Best Buy are preparing for the onslaught of customers looking forward to the Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales.

"We have doorbusters Thanksgiving day so they'll be a 50 inch TV for a really good deal and then even on Friday we'll have other good deals just for that day," said Mike Mayate, the sales manager for Best Buy in Milpitas.

But some aren't concerned with a deal...they just need to get in and out. They're taking advantage of stores like Safeway where some locations are open 24 hours.

"Today it's just salad and we'll see what else we need by tomorrow," laughed James Kang, a late night Safeway shopper. We asked Kang if he thinks he will be back tomorrow. He told us, "absolutley!"

If you are a procrastinator, certain Safeways are open on Thanksgiving Day until 6 p.m.

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