yogiyb

Starting at 10pm DEFINITELY contributed to having a different "mix" of shoppers but what's interesting is that it ALWAYS seems to be Wal Mart that has these problems. You rarely hear about these type of brawling chaos at Target or BB.

That is so right. In 04, I got to BB around 3:30 and knew the likelihood of getting the desktop was slim. I didn't get it but even then, by the time the store opened, I was still glad to be in the first group of people to get in. Of course in just a few years, the crowds have exploded. In 04, I was about 50th in line around 3am. Last year I had to camp out starting around 5pm on Thursday and was 25th in line. By 3am, I had strangers walking up offering me $$$ to buy items for them b/c the wait to get in the store was going to be about an hour based on how long the line was. In the end, you have to remember it's called Black Friday for a reason and try not to get emotional about how these stores are conducting business.

I always have in the past at BB and it was worth it. BB is not my first destination stop this year but I probably won't be able to resist doing a quick walkthrough.

Kohl's is moving up my list with the 4am opening. It's typically at the end of doorbuster stops but now I can be in and out of there in less than 30 minutes.

I'm looking for a flat screen monitor also...17" is fine for my 6 yr. son. It's encouraging to hear that there should be plenty. Right now an overnight is not in my plans.

Out of the majors, I think it will be Walmart.....Best Buy likes to see the anticipation build and won't leak too early.

I like to go it alone in the early hours in order to move in and out quickly among the crowd but if the husband takes out, we tagteam early and then regroup midday for whatever is left.

Although the website is advertising SHIP80, you can still use the SHIP 60 code. I got the swimsuits for $7.99 and the fleece throws!!!!

Used it Saturday when purchasing my new iPod along with some other stuff. The iPod is what kicked the total over $175 but the clerk let me use the coupon anyway.

The only thing that excites me about this is if it gets Best Buy and Circuit City to do extra deals like they did on BF. WalMart got the word out about the Secret Specials which prompted BB & CC to do the same and their sales turned out to better than Walmart's. Walmart just can't seem to get it together.

You're best bet is an outlet. Try www.outletbound.com for a complete list of outlet stores. With Ebay, use a power seller and be sure to check the comments left by purchasers. Also with Ebay there's the common sense factor, for a new bag with tags, the price shouldn't be heavily discounted or it's a fake. If you can get to an outlet store, (I've made the trip and my closest outlet is 4 hours) the price savings are definitely worth the drive. My DH got my the $400 briefcase for $250 a couple of years ago.

Last year, my son's aide got a better gift than the teacher (yeah, I didn't like her much). This year I'm doing a six box Harry & David tower so the teacher, aide, & speech therapist can split among themselves.

Yeah I almost missed the camcorder as that girl was going down one side of the line while everyone else was on another.

I knew the website would be a disaster once they broke off from Amazon. The website doesn't even have the inventory one would expect from TRU.

I had a similar experience the Toshiba laptop where I had a voucher but the Toshibas were sold out by the time I got to checkout (only an hour later as I had to go through TV checkout first). I got a Compaq for $249 although at first they tried to sell it to me for $599 but I wasn't having that after 12 hours outside in the cold. The whole point of the voucher system is to ensure the first people at the store get the items. I held on to that voucher until I got some relief as I knew once I gave up, BB was not going to go out of their way to help me.

I think next year is going to be the Online Year. It's started with this year with the extra web-only advertisements and I think in the near future there are going to be more web only offers than store only. This way inventory can be managed better. BB had some great deals this year and I was lucky to get a lot of them so BB has me in its corner for next year. I just hope to able to get the stuff online instead of another 12 hour overnighter.

I have to share my ticket experience. DH got there at 5:30pm after doing a drive-by and seeing about 17 people in line. I quickly hurried and we camped with a pretty good crowd, although some punk drove by and tried to spray everyone with a water gun (Plus, a fight broke out at CC and the police cleared their lot!!). Anyway, got tickets for the 42" & 32 WH HDTV, 5 MxPl Kodax, Samsung Camcorder, and surprising the Toshiba $250 laptop. The only miss was the HP laptop but I really didn't plan on getting it.(Probably was just caught in the moment ) Anyway, they let people purchasing 42" or larger TVs in about 4:30am to go to basically make sure they pushed the service plan and other accessories. Anyway to make a long story short, DH and I split to complete purchases. An hour later I get to customer service to pay and pick up the Toshiba. The clerk comes over and says they're out and were offering a $599 Compaq as a comparable item. I just cut him off and told him to get the manager. Then some little punk (you'll see why in a minute) comes over and says "This was a limited quantity item and weren't guaranteed." I explained to him that we had waited over 12 hours to ensure we would get this limited quantity item. Now the ticket I had was a paper copy, not the glossy sheet like the others. The punkish customer service manager then said "Well ma'am this is a photocopy of the actual ticket". That is when I breathed deeply and told him "Surely you are not suggesting that somehow I got a hold of the ticket, ran to Kinko's and made a copy!!! I then flipped the ticket over and showed him the yellow SKU labels attached to the back. I told him to get the store manager who had politely escorted me into the store at 4:30 this morning. By this time I am HOT!!! :mad: After the punk left, the cashier told me that they did not get glossy tickets for the Toshiba and just made those copies in the store. Apparently they printed 25 WITHOUT verifying the actual number in the store. By the time the store mgr came over to me, this same scenario was occuring all around the customer service counter. In conclusion, of course, they gave everyone the Compaq for the Toshiba $249 price. But it still took me about 15 minutes to completely settle down (sleep deprivation I guess). Overall, this was the perfect storm, in that BB had the best prices on the things I needed/wanted and we had a good position in line. Probably my last time camping out though ( ;) Happy Black Friday!!!!!

Good news that no one's there yet. Talked the husband into coming so we're be there with blankets, warmers, iPod and laptop. Fingers crossed and ready to roll. Sent you a PM too.

B'ham in the house!!!! Dee, I'm getting more anxious by the moment. What time are you heading to BB??? I'm going to try my luck at the Hoover store tonight.

For better or worse, it's going to be Best Buy. It's an "all in" gamble but I hope at 4:30am tomorrow to be Charlie Bucket singing "I've got the golden tickets".

Target will have cartridges for $15 during the two day sale.

Line location, line location line location......Ultimate goal is to get the $250 Toshiba, $50 XM Radio, $479 Westinghouse, and $1000 Panasonic Plasma. That's the "everybody got food poisoning and I'm #3 in line" plan. :) The website only guarantees 3(come on ) of the Samsung radios so my expectations with that are pretty low. Getting all my DVDs price-matched here also (double reward points!!).

BB right now...but Wal-Mart is still in play if I can get good intel on the Secrets.

O.K. This pushes my arrival time up by 2 hours. BB is going to be a madhouse!!!!

Ok dumb question alert (I'm not a hunter and don't know any)...How long do these things last? How many for a 6 - 8 hour wait?