My wife nd I went to TRU and stood in line at 8:15pm. Our store in MA opened at midnight. We were 20th in line.....at that time. Around 11:30pm, the store manager came out and told everyone that there was a small gas leak in the back of the building and that they would let everybody in and hand out tickets as soon as possible. There were approximately 700-1,000 people there and once the fire engines and police came to survey the situation, they decided to move the line away from the building. Guess what happened next? About a hundred people or so decided to try and jump the line to the front. Mass chaos ensued and a couple of small fights broke out.
The police didn't really do much as they were trying to handle the small gas leak issue. Once the gas leak was resolved and they started letting everyone in the store, there was literally a crowd just waiting to get in, no line. People were just pushing from the back and wouldn't stop. My wife and I were able to squeeze in around 50th or so and got everything we wanted, but not before I decided that this was my last Black Friday. No more for me.
After TRU, I went to Walmart to stand in line until the Leominster, MA store opened at 5AM. I was in line at 1:30AM and was about 100th in line. I didn't need/want much here, except for the Ipod touch with the $50 gift card. Was able to get that no problem. Also got the Sony docking station for it for my wife. Grabbed a couple more non-essentials and then headed home.
My wife went to Target and was able to get in for the 4AM opening mad rush, got everything she wanted there and then headed to meet me at Walmart. While I was in line for her presents, she went to grab an HP laptop for my brother in law.
All in all we were able to get everything we wanted, but the experience at TRU just ruined it for me for the rest of my life.