lofton09

Since I posted my first message tonight I might as well share my Black Friday story. I've been stopping by this web site for about 2 years but am not much of a shopper, really. I pass along interesting deals to my wife and she takes care of the dirty work. So I went out for my first Black Friday shopping experience ever, and was reading reports on this forum about long lines forming the night before. I didn't think it would be the case in my small town. I showed up at 5:00 AM at Best Buy hoping for the Panasonic 42" Plasma for $899. As you all know the store was packed, and a long line of people were still waiting to get in. When I finally got in I was laughed at when I asked if the Panasonic was still available. Learning experience, I guess. I did Thanksgiving dinner in Oregon at the in-laws the day before and noticed a good deal on the exact same plasma, for $969 at a small chain called Bi-Mart. I knew there was a Bi-Mart 40 minutes from my house so I headed there at 6:00 AM hoping they'd still have one. I get there, they have it and I ask the cashier for assistance. We walked to the back of the store where they are keeping them and it was marked as a Magnovox 37" and a price of $799. I told her it was an error, and this was the $969 Panasonic that I wanted. Turns out they have a store policy to provide any mis-marked prices so I ended up getting the TV for $799, which is $100 cheaper than the Black Friday price at Best Buy. Even better, I was in Oregon which does not have a sales tax, where at Best Buy I would have had an additional $80 or so in tax (WA). The original deal at Bi-Mart was actually better than Best Buy, but nobody knew about it because they are a small chain that doesn't advertise much! Overall I learned that Black Friday can be extremely frustrating (those are some long checkout lines!) and you have to go into it hoping to land a few deals rather than expecting them. I'm already looking forward to next year. By the way, the TV is awesome.