MarkRaby

Where are you seeing that item? -Mark-

Hm.. Used my zip code and got the following: "We're sorry, there are no current Weekly Ad Items at this time. Please check back soon for new Weekly Ad Items." -Mark-

I know BestBuy.com will be having one. -Mark-

They should. Most of their online sales start at midnight EST for everyone. EDIT: Hmm...maybe it's actually midnight CST for everyone (just noticed that their Wednesday sales end at 11:59 PM CST, so maybe they run on Central time for all their online sales). Looks like we still have to wait an hour. -Mark-

I'm interested in seeing what kind of online-only specials BestBuy.com will have on Thanksgiving. Should be up in about 5 minutes :) -Mark-

Ah, I stand corrected. Both Best Buy & Circuit City use the same online ad hosting service, so I just assumed they'd both be out at the same time. I'd still not expect the BB ad for a couple hours, though. -Mark-

1 - 2 feet? What part of Ohio are you from? -Mark-

I think people who go out on BF are pretty determined shoppers. We won't let some snow and slippery roads stand in our way! -Mark-

Very nice! You don't happen to be in Columbus, OH (deliver the Columbus Dispatch), do you? -Mark-

Yes; a lot of people misunderstood, but the question was answered. It will be the "older" GBA SP models without the brighter backlit screen. -Mark-

If you have a ticket, you have until the end of the sale (i.e. Noon) to redeem it. From what I gather, they keep all those ticketed items hidden from the rest of the customers and only people with tickets can buy them. -Mark-

It's so agonizing!! And this is in the comfort of my own home. I better not be this antsy when I'm waiting outside or in a checkout line for four or five hours -Mark-

CompUSA had a "midnight madness" sale tonight, from 6 PM to midnight. I don't think anyone around here got an official ad for it. I just knew about it from seeing the ad online. They close at 5 PM to prepare for the sale, and it was kind of funny because I got there at 5:50 and there were very few people waiting outside. And from listening to their conversations, it seemed very few of them were actually there for the sale and were upset about the fact that the store had closed down for an hour. And when a manager came out to hand out tickets for the desktop/laptop computers, nobody wanted them. Needless to say, I was able to get everything I wanted (50-pack DVD+Rs for $7.99 and a can of compressed air for $4 - $4 MIR). -Mark-

Just so everyone here knows, Best Buy and Circuit City will be posting their ads online at around 3 AM EST (Midnight PST). That's for all you insomniacs here... EDIT: Looks like the Circuit City ad is already up on circuitcity.com -Mark-

By the way, illusion, is that avatar a picture of you? If so, which one is you? -Mark-

You have the wrong idea. Everyone here -- eat so much that you can't move for 24 hours!! That way you won't be in our way at the stores -Mark-

If the GBA SP is one of the new "brighter backlight" ones, it will say so on the box. Otherwise, it is one of the original ones with the regular backlit. -Mark-

Media Play is usually pretty good about having "storewide" or "department-wide" sales. Instead of having a few DVDs that are super cheap, they will often have something like "$3 off all DVDs" or "buy any DVD, get one for half off". Also expect some kind of sale on bargain books (usually buy 2 get 1 free). Last year, they gave out free watches to the first so many people who bought something. They usually have doorbusters and 2-day Fri/Sat sales. You're probably not going to find the best deals in the world there, but it is not usually an extremely crowded store on BF, and you'll probably be able to pick up something on sale that you couldn't get from any other BF sale (e.g. last year, they had a buy 2 manga, get 1 free sale. Picked up a few for my sister who's really into those things -- could not have gotten that deal anywhere else). As for this year, I have no specifics, so that's all just based on past experiences. Of course, you only have to wait a few hours until you get your T-day paper to find out for sure -Mark-

What really annoys me is that, driving to the mall at around 4 AM last year, I could already see a huge line for Best Buy (was not going there first because of the lack of the doorbusters). I was like, "What could they possibly want from Best Buy without the doorbuster sales that would make them wait outside for hours upon hours?" Of course, would that line have been longer if they had the doorbusters? Probably. Would the "per capita" spending have been greater if they had the doorbusters? Most likely. Hopefully Best Buy will realize that, no matter how well they did on BF last year, they probably could have done so much better if they gave the people what they wanted (aka: the doorbusters). I am now waiting on pins and needles for the official BB ad to be released here. -Mark-

I think that any other day of the year, a $15 gift card for every $100 you spend would be a fantastic sale. But when you've got that vs. a $370 instant savings on a $750 laptop, $60 instant savings on a $100 MP3 player, etc, it's just plain wrong! What's worse is that Best Buy knows that the ads w/ the doorbusters get leaked early. They have to know that they are really, really upsetting people by not having those doorbusters. It would be different if you had no prior knowledge or conceptions of what the ad was going to be like, but when you mess with people like that, I don't think very many people like that... -Mark-

We've got 3 Best Buys and 2 Circuit City's very close to each other and our Best Buy did the exact same promotion last year. I heard that Circuit City did remarkably well in our area for BF (could not find a comparison to Best Buy, though). -Mark-

You know, it would be tempting to just avoid them altogether this year on BF and not spend a cent there regardless, because of their shenanigans the past couple years. But since I do have $300 in BB Bucks to spend, which will kind of be messing with them (aka: payback) for what they've done to me. If they do have the doorbusters, by some miraculous force of God, I will be spending all my money on those (including cash past my $300 in BB Bucks). If they don't, I will spend significantly less, and I hope the rest of my area, and all other areas that get stuck with this, will follow suit. -Mark-

Yeah; it was exactly what you are describing -- $15 gift card per $100 spent, in place of the doorbusters. In 2003, it was $20 per $100, but you actually had to send in mail-in rebate forms to get them (what a joke that was! ). Also, it is calculated on your total after mail-in rebates are taken into effect. So if you spend $500 and have a total of $305 in mail-in rebates, you will only get a $30 gift card based on $295 (instead of $75 based on $500). It's just an awful promotion and the Best Buy execs should torture themselves just for thinking of it -Mark-

This has got to be one of the most idiotic things Best Buy has ever done. The whole idea is to get people into your store first, so that people will spend the most time and the most money at your store. Getting a $15 gift card for spending $100 does not rival any other store out there (heck, Sears is offering a free $10 gift card for absolutely nothing!!). Best Buy's other sales this BF are really quite pathetic. If they are truly thinking of making this a nationwide policy next year, they are going to be really hurting next year. I am now not very hopeful at all that my Best Buys will have the doorbusters (I will know for sure in about 5 hours when the ad goes on their site). It's okay, because I planned my BF without even looking at Best Buy's doorbusters this year, but it still makes me mad. -Mark-

Well, this is not sounding good for us Columbus, OH residents, who have had the same thing for the past 2 years....although maybe they are going to just test it exclusively in new markets like Missouri this year and re-instate doorbusters here this year. Hey, I can hope, can't I? -Mark-