Brad

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/FarmFleetToyland http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/MoreSales/FleetFarmToyBook

It's always Black Friday season for me, haha. But seriously in some ways it's the first week of November for me. That's when we typically start seeing the "real" (non-Harbor Freight/non-Half Price Books) type of ads leaking. That week is also when the online deals typically start to ramp up. Amazon usually starts their expanded Lightning Deals that week as well.

Also just a reminder that the shirts we give away will be up to size XL only, so if you need larger sizes, ordering them is the only way to go. Thanks to everyone who has ordered so far. We know a lot of you are waiting to see if you win one before ordering, so we'll be sure to let you know when the ordering deadline is getting closer.

Right, but I set the amount needed to print to be the lowest possible (3) so that shouldn't be a problem.

Shirts can now be ordered. Details in this thread: http://forums.gottadeal.com/topic/252030-order-your-black-friday-gottadealcom-t-shirts/ I'm going to close this thread and t-shirt talk can continue over there

The ordering period for shirts is now over. See end of thread for updates.

Shirts should be available to order in the next day hopefully

http://consumerist.com/2015/10/05/retailers-prepare-to-fight-holiday-shoppers-and-each-other-to-not-offer-discounts/ "Retailers really, really want to wean American shoppers off our recession-era addiction to discounts. Will it be possible for them to resist the temptation to slap “40% off” signs everywhere to attract customers? Retail forecasts for this holiday season show that retailers want to avoid selling products at a discount, while consumers plan to make their shopping decisions according to price."

Target REDcard signup link: http://www.gottadeal.com/Coupon/34640 Some of the best gift card deals recently have been on eBay on their deals page: http://deals.ebay.com They've had a lot of stores/restaurants/gas stations for 10-20% off with free shipping and earning eBay Bucks.

No back design this year. It's cold on Black Friday where a lot of us live, so I've heard many times how with jackets/hoodies on that nobody saw the back anyway. It also helps keep the cost of the shirt low by not having 2 print locations so we might be able to get a better quality shirt for around the same price. I figure most of you have at least one older shirt with the slogan on the back, so if you really want it to be seen, you could wear one of those instead. We didn't have the slogan the year we did the "caution" sign design on the back, so it has happened before But if I had to guess, the slogan will make its triumphant return next year. Just taking a year off.

Yep, no winners from the prediction part, but you can still add a comment to the thread to be eligible to win one of the 5 t-shirts.

Scans: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridayScans/HalfPriceBooks PDF: http://i.gottadeal.com/blackfriday/scans/pdf/GottaDeal-HalfPriceBooks-BF2015.pdf Listing: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/BlackFridaySales/Store/HalfPriceBooks This is their more general holiday gift guide, but it has the details of their Black Friday sale so we're considering it the first ad

Might be a good idea to upload an archived version of this to YouTube afterwards so those who can't get in for whatever reason could still check it out.

I'm checking to see what shirts we can get. An upgraded shirt would be nice, although it might add a buck or two to the cost, but I'm looking into it

We also posted a t-shirt contest on our Facebook page, so be sure to enter there for another shot to win: https://www.facebook.com/gottadeal

Staples is already being discussed here: http://forums.gottadeal.com/topic/251678-staples-opening-at-6am-on-black-friday/

Here is the design for this year's Black Friday t-shirts: http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2015design.png A little different type of design than we've had in the past, but I hope you guys like it. Now for the question many of you are asking - how can I get one (or more)? 1. As always, we'll be giving away a bunch of shirts here on the forum, on our Facebook page and through the live webcasts. Note that the shirts we give away will probably only go up to size XL, so if you need larger sizes, continue reading. 2. Starting sometime next week, I will once again offer shirts for sale. Unlike last year when we made the mistake of going with Represent.com, this year I'll go back to selling and shipping them myself. Shirts will be available for several weeks so you'll have plenty of time to get your order in. Shirt sizes for these will be up to 4XL, possibly larger depending on which style of shirt we go with. Prices will be posted when they go on sale, but they'll be similar to previous years. 3. I'll also likely set something up through Teespring.com for hoodies, long sleeve t-shirts and possibly other items (kids & baby sizes?) using this design. Those orders will be handled by Teespring, but I'll price them all at the lowest possible price I can. If you order one or more t-shirts from me directly, as always I'll include some additional GD swag in your package as a thank you. So that about covers it all. More info next week when they go on sale but I wanted to show you the design today. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or post here in the thread.

If there are more than 10 winners, you'll receive $5 gift cards instead of $10. Just protecting myself since almost everyone is going with similar guesses...

Last year Staples was open from 6pm to 10pm on Thanksgiving, so it's very interesting that they are going to go back to a Friday start this year.

Time for everyone's favorite contest - the first ad prediction contest Simply reply to this thread with your guess for the date and store for the first ad to be posted on the Black Friday site. Only post one guess and if you edit your post more than 10 minutes after your initial post, your entry won't count, so make your best guess now! For help, view this chart for 2006-2014 dates: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/dates.php I'll accept entries until Sunday October 11th at 9:00pm ET. At that point I'll randomly select 5 people who posted their prediction and they'll win a Black Friday t-shirt. If someone ends up being correct on both the date and store for the first ad, I'll send you a $10 Amazon gift card. If more than one person is correct, you all win gift cards. If there are more than 10 winners, the gift card value will be $5 instead of $10. We'll use eastern time zone to determine which day a late-night ad is posted on. Good luck to everyone! IMPORTANT: If the first ad comes out before the contest ends (update: this is the case), there will be no additional winners beyond those who already had their guesses posted, but you can still reply to the thread with a comment to have a chance to be chosen randomly for the 5 shirts. http://i.gottadeal.com/main/images/merch/2015design.png

Let the opening time announcements begin... http://investor.staples.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96244&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2092307

The first ads are usually around October 12-15, so we've got a few weeks to go. I'm hoping to finalize the shirt design before I post the first contest, but either way I'll have that contest posted by the end of the week.

Black Friday is just 2 months from today! Added the holiday & store specific forums today, so get posting!

Bumping this again for any of you who just showed up. For those who are helping, you'll be hearing from me next week to get things going

Haven't talked to Dev about it yet this year, but he knows he's always welcome to do them so it'll just depend on his schedule over the next 2 months.