felixdacat

Interesting discussion. I would add my voice to the people who dislike the limited supply doorbuster; however it is not going away because….IT WORKS. Best Buy was the leader in this category and they were rewarded with lines snaking around the building at possibly all their locations. In the meantime Wal-Mart, which I have always been impressed with because almost all their doorbusters have a very solid supply on hand, seems to have taken a big hit on their BF customer volume (there’s another thread that has Wal-Mart as the biggest loser for this BF). One good trend in regards to the limited supply doorbuster is that just a few years ago, it was acceptable to have less then 10 of each item per store, with the golden number being 6. This year BB seems to have set the number at 18, and I would guess that next year this may be in the twenties. This number being higher combined with better security practices are the likely reasons we’re hearing less stories this year about violence. I would also guess that Wal-Mart will increase their limited supply doorbusters next year. Instead of 1 or two items, I would venture they will compete with Best Buy and have a dozen special items with an announced minimum supply per store. Maybe next year, the trick to BF will not just be to stand in line the earliest, but to find a small town Wal-Mart to shop at. I saw a greater internet BF involvement this year. This includes the BB & Wal-Mart surprises, but also more in store pickup options, especially with CC. CC was interesting because they initially had their Olevia LCD doorbuster available online Thanksgiving morning for in store pickup, and then pulled it, and if I read the thread correctly, it was available again overnight on Friday, and then pulled again. One possible trend may be to have doorbusters available for in store pickup, but not immediately. You would make the online purchase, but would have to wait till they emailed you back with pickup information. This way, the stock on hand is available for B&M shoppers, but they will know how many of what items they need to send to each location. As for the “surprises” I see this happening again next year. The point of BF is to build up excitement and get people in the stores, in a buying mood. As much as I love this website, it both helps and hurts the retailer’s strategies. Note the “Are you disappointed” thread that sprung up a month ago. It also seemed that GottaDeal had more cooperation with the retailers this year and less threats. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention but I can only remember one set of ads being pulled off the site. However, maybe the stores will study whatever Frys did, because their ads never made it (along with HH Gregg and Macys). But change is the one thing you can count on, which to me makes BF exciting.

do you think the garmin navigation system will be available online? Will it be available on T-day like some CC deals have been in the past? just hoping not to get in line for this one item that I want.

All I can say is... "Removeable, dishwasher safe, non stick, plates". Git R Done

I would have wished for either the George Foreman GR5 or the Cuisinart Griddler. Is it to much to wish for that one of these could be a WalMart surprise?

Here's a hard cold dose of reality folks. The BB Laptop and LCD TV are highly likely to be in very limited supply per store. From past experience (and you can review last years posts), I would guess that they'll have less then 25 of each and maybe less then 20. To guarantee yourself one or both of these items you will have to be one of the first in line. I would again guess that it will take a 7-9 hour wait on line to have a shot. They will not be available online. We just had a grand opening of a Frys near me and they had a very similar deal for a 37 inch LCD, but they were as good as gone by the time theu opened the doors. This makes it possible that Fry's will also repeat the deal on BF. BB & CC may open up some of their doorbusters to the web if they're not moving as well as hoped. They've done so the past 2 years. The only BF sale where they usually have a large supply of the door busters is WalMart. I don't even think they will offer a door buster unless they can have a minimum of a few hundred available per store.

I was able to score 4 at 5:30 , but they were almost gone. The great deal here is not just the bears, but the DVD with them. I swear they put sublimital messages in those DVD's. It can memorize kids for the entire time. No kidding. I was also able to snag some mermaid barbies and cinderella dressup. All of these are for my nieces or I would sell you some. But my walmart was out of the twister/trouble 10$ combo.

I was on at 10am, but unfortunately, by then, I had left the house again to visit old Navy. Dont know if they mentioned my gottadeal plug or not. sandy

I bought my items in store this morning. So no shipping and the rebate forms said I could submit them online. Save me tons of time if I really could. sandy

I tried to just submit my rebates online and in one customer it did not like my customer service pin and the other one I could not get past the offer number. I guess their computers have not caught up yet? Has anyone else tried yet?

nope I was alone. hair in sorta ponytail, dark blue coat. light blue sweats white shirt. I took my glasses off at some point. sandy

I got to BB at 5:00 and went to the back where my donuts, coffee, and personal shopper were waiting. I was out of there before 5:30. Note that I did not get the doorbusters such as the computer, but got most of the other great AR deals and the mp3 player. went to walmart , got bikes and presents for my nieces and I was home by 6am. Off to walgreens at 7. I dont know why more people did not use the personal shopper. When I left there was still a line outside BB, and these are the people that did not get the doorbusters, I am sure. (the others were already in the store).

they said it would air starting at 7am. I cannot promise that my gottadeal mention will be said though. you know how editing can be Basically the gist was because of this site I shopped more this year. Take that office depot! (a place I did not visit). sandy

at the walmart here in Roswell GA, CNN interviewed my "morning" self at 5:30am and I told them I was spending more because of gottadeal.com. sandy :)

hhgregg has one for 59.97!

In my area (Atlanta), of the national chains participating in BF, BB has the longest lines. Last year at 5AM, there was a minimum of 2000 people on line in the North Suburbs. Note: We also have one Frys that had a bigger line, and the one Brandsmart we had, had 10,000 people in the parking lot with 2000 in the store. We have since gotten one more Brandsmart. In the past the best of the best sale items usually ended up with each store having a very limited supply. Now the posted scans show the $379 laptop with a tag on it “Fri ‘till Noon”. But lower down you have “Shop Early, Get them while they last”. Last year, knowing that the chances were nil of getting a top item, the mine just wasn’t worth joining. What do people think about this year? BTW- I did notice that if some BF items were not selling well, they do begin to offer them online, some time in the morning.

What does this mean? I searched around the website but couldn't find anything.

Digital SLR's usually only go on (great) sale, when a new model is released. The only new DSLR currently, is the Nikon D200, so you probably can get a deal on a D100, but not $700. Also, remember that you will need a lens, so you will have to look for a kit. You will also need a filter, a backup battery, and maybe a camera bag. So, I'm afraid you are not being realistic with the amount of money you want to spend. However, you can get a pretty good Prosumer camera for that money. Those are the cameras with the fixed lens, usually 10x-12x zoom, and 5-8MP's. If I was in the market, I would get the new Canon, but the Nikon 8700 is pretty good as well.