jrawla

If you look at the local ad on the website and scroll over the items, the description for a majority say "in store only". At least that is the case for most of the "one time offer" toys I was looking for. Ad itself doesn't seem to mention it that I can see though. Guess they want everyone in the store.

New college students usually need sheets, comforters, towels, and the like. We bought my nephew a laundry basket filled with towels, sheets, plastic cups and plates, an iron, shower caddy, cleaning supplies, desk lamp, fan, and some other personal care odds and ends. If taking things on the plane is an issue you could include an "IOU" for shipping and cover the shipping costs when she leaves. If she is going far away (depending on your budget) you could also consider a travel certificate from an airline or a site like orbitz or Expedia. Travel can get expensive and limit the trips home for a homesick freshman. The other thing someone got a friends son was a digital frame with a memory stick of friends and family photos and a phone book with everyone's phone number, address and email.

Target.com does have a unique return to store method. You cannot just bring in your packing slip/receipt and use it to return items. You have to go online (some store have a kiosk near the return desk as well), log into your account and print a return receipt, which you bring with your item and use for the return. Once I figured that out, I have not had any issue making returns in store. I agree that the gift card bonus is probably what is tripping up their system with the electronic purchases.

Every so often I will see some trains/cars in store at Kohls. They are currently running a sale on Fisher Price and if you are a cardholder they always have some kind of %off coupon deal.

Kohls is up!

I've been cursing out Kohls as well...until I looked a little closer at the website and saw that it says 12:00 CST, which is 1am for us east coasters. Just a little while longer!

I did all of my shopping online last year and had great success. As others have said, you won't get any Doorbuster deals, but there's still plenty of great sales to be had. One thing that worked very well for me last year: I was shopping at multiple stores and wanted to make sure to get my orders in as soon as the sale went live. Many stores will let you save a shopping cart. I did it with JCPenny, Kohls, and I think Kmart. I did my shopping early, saved my cart and when the sale started, I just logged in and went straight to checkout. The prices were automatically adjusted and I was done in seconds. I'm hoping this strategy works again this year. Good luck.

The cheapest I have seen it so far is at Walmart for $32.76. They list it as "out of stock" online, but I got mine at my local store (NJ) last week and they had plenty on hand. I figure I can always return it if I find it cheaper, but at least I have it in case it becomes one of the hot toys.