Nearly 200 dedicated Black Friday shoppers line up early at SJ Bass Pro Shops

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The National Retail Federation is forecasting winter holiday spending to hit up to $989 billion in total holiday spending in November and December. While many buy their Christmas gifts online, some shoppers say they enjoy being able to still experience Black Friday in person.

Deal-seekers entered the Bass Pro Shops in San Jose at 5 a.m. this Black Friday. Many hoped to get one of the 250 gift cards they gave out valued between $10 and $500.

MORE: Best Black Friday deals with discounts up to 80% off

By 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, a line of nearly 200 people had formed outside the store.

Castro Valley resident Eddie Flaherty told ABC7 News reporter Gloria Rodriguez he lined up starting at 10:30 Thursday night.

Is it worth the wait?

Flaherty said, "Came here for the gift card, pick up some clothes for the family, and you know just have a good time with family... chance at a $500 gift card? I mean its worth it, last year I got $70 bucks, so you never know."

Shopper Jill Fracchia, who camped out starting at 2 a.m., said,"I think it's fun because you get to talk to people and just like share stories but also it's kinda in a way, nostalgia, cause you know people used to do this in the 90s."

General manager Chris Brunetti talked to ABC7 about the biggest draws. "We have some great deals on apparel. We have some great deals on firearms and ammo. We also just have great deals across the board."

The National Retail Federation is forecasting winter holiday spending is expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over last year.

Katherine Cullen from the National Retail Federation says, "The average holiday shopper is budgeting around $900 on average this year for gifts and other seasonal items like greeting cards, candy flowers and things like that. This is about $27 more than shoppers budgeted last year."

There was plenty for the kids to do here, too, like Santa's Wonderland. Kids can take pictures with Santa and write a letter and mail it to the North Pole.