H_Hancock

Let's see.....the Klipsch Quintet III surround system for $250 isn't a bad price at all. The Westinghouse 22" widescreen LCD computer monitor for $199 is a good price; the Samsung 19" widescreen LCD monitor for $129 is quite nice, too. Lots of good prices at BB........worth it, at least to me, NOT to fight the insane crowds at Wal-Mart.....and if early enough, almost assure yourself that you WILL get at least some if not all of the items you want, something you cannot be sure of at WM.

I don't know how this year's desktop will work, but last year the monitor was listed separately from the actual computer on the receipt (the monitor was listed on the receipt at close to full price while the computer tower was heavily discounted to down around $50 or so.) Because of this, people who purchased the system, in many cases, returned the monitor to Best Buy in the days following BF for a refund on it. So if BB does the same thing this year, it's possible to just take the monitor back and apply its price to a nicer monitor or take the refund and buy a better monitor online, like from Newegg or Dell.

The ticket system has been used very well for the last few years at the Augusta, GA Best Buy. Very well organized, very well done. As for getting-in-line times, last year the laptop and desktop computers, very similar to this year's items, prompted the line to start forming at 8PM on Thanksgiving. Now, with similar computer sales and some HDTV sales that will surely draw some people out, I think we're going to start cruising the store at maybe 5PM.

Thanks for all the replies! We've ordered a pair of heaters, the cheapier tank-top ones, for our use on BF. We're just getting too old to suffer freezing again, considering I want to be on line at 7PM or so. Of course, that completely depends upon who has what for specials, but since one of us always ends up at BestBuy, they will come in handy. As for what we'll do with them when the store opens, we'll probably have them turned off, coolded down and packed back in the Blazer at least an hour or a bit more before the store opens.....probably turned off at 3:30am, put away by 4AM. Putting up with the cold for an hour or two is much easier than enduring it for 10 hours.

Gotta agree, the lack of ads so far is the disappointment. Seems like we're behind in number, but time will tell. Almost seems that the stores are trying to keep their ads more secure this year. I'm waiting for BB, CC, Fry's, and CompUSA. Couldn't care less about Wal-Mart's ad....hate going in there on a good day. You couldn't pay me to set foot in one on BF.

True, the nicer ones are a bit on the expensive side, but then again, what price to keep from freezing? They'd be quite useful in almost any cold day situation where we've got to be outside.....we go to quite a few auctions, upwards of 10/monthly, and though they tend to drop off in frequency in winter, there's almost always an estate auction each month, and that means sitting outside enduring the cold. Also, there is the fact it'd be used for every BF we plan on attending in years to come......I'm a compulsive BF-aholic, while the wife is much less so. So, even when she finally tires of the sitting and waiting, I'll most assuredly be out there year after year....and it would be handy! I was wondering, though, if anyone would think that it would be objected to being there? After all, it is a burning instrument, and while small children rarely show up on line until an hour os so before the doors open, I was just wondering if anyone could forsee any objections to the use of one of these?

Our Service League, which used to be the Junior League, had their annual Attic Sale today. As always, it drew a huge crowd. Lots to be had at very cheap prices.....almost any sort of thing you could want. It opened at 7am and we were there at 3:30am, and 3rd and 4th in line. It dropped to 32F last night, this morning, and we were miserable. Worse yet, we were almost completely decked out in our BF attire. Getting old sure has sapped our tolerance to the cold! Anyway, we had the bright idea of a portable propane heater for our outside overnight sit for BF. We were looking at these: http://www.heatershop.com/mr_heater_portable_buddy.html http://www.heatershop.com/big_buddy_from_mr_heater.html http://www.heatershop.com/tank_top_heaters.html We've got tanks already............ So, what would you think if someone showed up with one of those?

I've always wondered what people would do if you showed up with one of these? http://www.heatershop.com/big_buddy_from_mr_heater.html http://www.heatershop.com/mr_heater_portable_buddy.html (The larger one has a fan powered by either 4 D-cell batteries or a 6 volt A/C adapter.) These are a bit dicier as they are much more exposed, but cheaper. http://www.heatershop.com/tank_top_heaters.html Since we've got 3 20# propane tanks for our grills, doing this has always intrigued me.

Like was said before, anyone out at midnight on Thanksgiving Day night as it fades into BF, is probably out checking out the lines. Now, 8PM on Thanksgiving and you'll have an entirely different set of people.....most are just curious, some are rude and crude but you learn to just smile and/or ignore those. They're the ones who on BF will be re-reading the BF ads and wishing they'd been there to score the deals!!!

While WM may be trying to do a pre-emptive strike on your BF dollars by having BF-like sales right now, a very, very large part may be Wal-Mart's very disappointing sales increase last month..... A disappointing sales performance and outlook from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Thursday raised the possibility of price wars this holiday season – a boon to consumers but a troubling prospect for the entire retail industry. “The news from Wal-Mart is definitely discouraging,” said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass. “They are going to be very price aggressive. And it is going to have an effect on everyone. It is going to force other retailers to cut their prices, which in turn will squeeze their profit margins.” The world's largest retailer, whose sales were dragged down by a failed women's fashion strategy that went too trendy and by disruptions from a store remodeling program, said it will be using price as a weapon in such areas as toys and electronics to drive holiday sales. Wal-Mart, which should have benefited from falling gasoline prices, reported a meager 0.5 percent gain in October same-store sales; it was hurt by its namesake division, which eked out a 0.3 percent gain. Sam's Club had a 2.0 percent same-store sales gain. A big problem at Wal-Mart was that it overstocked stores with too many trendy items like skinny jeans, officials told Wall Street analysts. Wal-Mart's results were below the 1.5 percent gain expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Wal-Mart also estimated that same-stores sales should be unchanged in November from a year ago. Meanwhile, rival Target had a solid 3.9 percent gain in same-store sales, though the figure was slightly below the 4.2 percent estimate from Wall Street. Federated which acquired May Department Stores Co. last year, posted a hefty 7.7 percent gain in same-store sales, higher than the 6.2 percent estimate from Wall Street. Same-store sales include only Macy's and Bloomingdale's. Federated said it expects same-store sales to increase by 3 percent to 5 percent in November as well as in the fourth quarter as a whole. Penney, helped by strong consumer demand for fall apparel and accessories, had a same-store sales increase of 8.1 percent in its department store business. The results beat the 6.2 percent estimate. Limited Brands Inc.'s 9 percent same-store sales gain topped the 7.2 percent estimate from Wall Street. Article consolidated from the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, Nov. 2, 2006: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061102-1338-retailsales.html

Considering MicroCenter is always running sales year round, I cannot help but think they, too, will have some BF specials. In Atlanta, they're going up against all the big electronic/computer stores, BB, CC, Fry's, OD, OM, Staple's........so the area is ultracompetitive and they'd have to have some BF sales or not compete. Everywhere I've seen a MicroCenter, there's also at least a BB, CC, and a few other elec. stores......competition is great, sometimes!!

Just a point to be made......Polaroid really isn't CC's house brand, technically. You can buy Polaroid products from other sources, such as WalMart, Home Depot, Amazon, and even from Polaroid themselves. Wehn one mentions a house brand, such as Insignia at BB or Ilo at WM, one would expect the brand to NOT be found anywhere else, hence the term house brand. Now, CC does use Polariod as their cheapest brand, but CC has no specific house brands unto themselves, instead using an inexpensive manufacturer to supply that price range. I suppose CC is hoping the name recognition that brands such as Polariod gives them an edge over lesser-known brands such as Insignia and Ilo and Maxent. Also, while Viewsonic is marketing towards the lower price point on LCD TV's, they are absolutely not considered a 3rd tier marketer in their true product spectrum, computer monitors.

Actually, KMart bought Sears two years ago, Nov. 2004. The merger made the combined companies the number three retailer, in gross sales, in the U.S., behind Wal-Mart and Target. Interestingly, the chairman of KMart was the largest single shareholder in Sears, which is one reason why this probably transpired. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/kmart_sears.html As for the sales, I've seen more and more low-end Sears product ending up in KMarts, while the Sears stores drop that same line, outside the Craftsman tool line, of course. One example is in their garden depts. Sears used to carry Weedeater mowers (a very cheap brand at best.) Sears dropped the line from their stores but KMart began carrying them at the same time. I look for more of the same happening as Sears tries to move more upscale (their purchase of Lands End just before the merger was another indication of this.)

We choose our BF stores by what is being offered for doorbusters.....one of us invariably ends up in front of BB, the other one of us is elsewhere....two years ago it was CUSA, last year CC, BB three years ago for both of us. We've just found BB has consistently the better doorbusters year after year, at least in some products. It all depends upon what you're looking for.

Thankfully, the BB we frequent on BF does things a bit more thoroughly. They use shopping carts to form a chain stretching from between the entrance and exit doors and stretch that chain down along the wall, leaving enough room to walk like two people down that aisle that's been formed. Also, the carts are on the outside of a series of concrete pillars, there to prevent cars from hitting the wall, I presume. Next, about an hour before opening, they station cops along the doors to prevent cutters from the parking lot from jumping line. Has worked out quite well.

Our CompUSA opened last year at midnight, too, as did all the others. But the line really didn't start to form outside the store until 10PM or so. The CompUSA is right across the street from the CC I was camped outside of and we watched the line begin to form as we sat, freezing, and listening to Christmas is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year play over the outside speakers on the CC building....and play, over and over and over. You never know how much you can get to hate a song until you've heard it play nonstop for 9 hours straight. It was almost like Chinese water torture.

We've got $900 saved and we think that's going to about our limit.....now, if the Monopoly Game BB Bucks come through, it'll increase a bit. One of us almost always end up camping out at BB.

Workon BF? No, thank goodness. Both the wife and I get Thanksgiving and BF off as paid holiday days.

The wife and I usually split up BB and CC between ourselves and we do the camp-out thing, starting at mn last year....probably a bit earlier this year, but it depends on what's there. We've never had a problem getting in and out of either store in under 20 min. We go in with very specific items in mind, get them and head to the checkout line, which is usually quite short in the first 15 min. or so. But since our BB and CC both use a ticket system for the hot items (doorbusters), and have for years, it makes getting in and out very fast and easy. Did make the mistake of going back into the BB at 1PM last year. The checkout line wound around the inside of the store and doubled back on itself.....wait time, according to a few people toward the front of the line, was approaching 2-3 hours. The "secondary" stores, on the other hand, get their crush in the first half-hour or so and then are rather empty afterwards, at least the ones we frequent, so they are saved for later.

Last year, by midnight BB had over 30 people in line, the CC down the street had 8 in line, and the CompUSA across from CC had a huge crowd outside the doors...but they were opening their store at mn, so that explained the crowd outside there. Thankfully, we didn't want anything form CUSA. We were told that the BB line started at around 9PM because of the $149 desktop computer, so it's most likely going to depend upon what's there for doorbusters this year by store as to how early the line will form. As for WalMart, you couldn't get me within 100 yeards of one on Black Friday....unruly crowds, no control by the store. The scenes of crowds trampling each other and fights breaking out as the hot items are thrown out to the crowds seems to repeat every year at most WM's but it never changes. Give me an orderly line, tickets for the hot items, and I'll endure the attempted upsells CC and BB do....their crowd control and orderly system for the hot items more than make up for the slightly higher prices they charge vs. WM.

Amen to that!!

I cannot speak to Coach products, as my wife's preference is Dooney and Bourke products. As for Dooney items, we rarely if ever find them on sale, BF or not. Seems as if one is going to spend money on that line, sales seem to matter little.....you're either going to buy it or not, price be hanged. Of course, there is the quality factor and durability factor involved with such brands, too. I personally have a Dooney wallet that has been inadvertantly washed two times and is approaching its 13th year of use.....and is finally wearing enough to warrant a replacement. And while I thought it was crazy to spend upwards of $90 for a man's wallet, its longevity has changed my mind completely and I won't buy anything cheap again.

Depends upon what the weather's like out, but if it's like last year......... insulated jeans with a Polar Fleece lining (LL Bean) over a set of thermal bike tights (I bicycle a lot....), insulating bike shirt (which is very breathable and thin but works great!) under a flannel shirt, and a Thinsulate-lined leather bomber's jacket. Thinsulate or such socks and boots. Pull on some decent gloves and a hat (indispensible as almost half of heat loss is through your head!) and you're warm!!! And it's very easy to unlayer as the day progresses and warms.....takes just a minute or two to shed the bike tights and the undershirt.

It depends on what we were after at the stores. If we manage to obtain some of the nicer laptops, like the Toshiba from CC last year, or the el cheapo desktop from BB last year, the moment we get home, they're photographed and put up on ebay.....time's critical for them to hit. Buying for ourselves, we play with our new toys, crash after a while.......

From repair statistics I've seen, in front loader washers, Maytag is far and away the most problematic........other brands out there, Frigidaire, Sears, Whirlpool, GE all are fairly equal in repair history. In top-loading washers, the worst were KitchenAid, Amana, and Fisher & Paykel. The best in order were Roper, Frigidaire, GE, Whirlpool, and Kenmore. (In fact, the GE's were just as trouble prone in top-loaders as Whirlpools.) Maytag fit in between the two sets. In reality, few major brands out there are "pure junk", as it was put. And outside of Maytag, the front-loaders seemed to be as reliable as top-loaders. This was based on a repair history taken from 2001-2005 with approximately 94K samples.