Doctor Gonzo

Our local best buy had about 60-70 people in line prior to opening. Target had maybe 40 people lined up with quite a few people still sitting in their vehicles waiting to make their move once the doors opened. Kohls had a very big crowd standing in line. At least 70-80 id say. ...And ONE person is camped outside in a sleeping bag at Five Below FIVE BELOW PEOPLE!!! Wish I had thought of asking him what he plans on getting! sheesh!!!

Best Buy in Springfield IL - no one in line There are, however, two porta-pottys set up and waiting in their parking lot. Would hate to be in one of them just as someone backs their car into it! ;

Springfield, Illinois!!!

We got a Foodsaver brand sealer at Sams Club about 6 months ago and LOVE IT! - it works great and like it says in the guide book, it will preserve your food much longer than if you just put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the freezer. Getting all the air out like a sealer does makes all the difference in keeping food longer in a freezer! I strongly suggest picking one up, they don't take up much counter space and they are a great investment!!! The model we have is - V3485

Need a little confirmation - are the DVDs and bly-rays going on sale at 12:01 or are they held back until 5:00? Thanks in advance!

A guy I work with and his girlfriend each took a vacation week this week from their jobs to stand in line at our local BB, they are making use of her dads camper and have been living in that in the parking lot and have planned to take a place in line the moment one starts to form. All week they have been getting by on gas station food from a thortons station a block away, his parents and hers will be bringing them thanksgiving dinner this evening. I tip my cap to them, too much for me, but they seemed to be having fun when I went by their set up on Tuesday in the parking lot. At least the temp here in central illinois is not as bad as years past - will be about 43 degrees tonight. I'll be at the springfield 24 hour walmart around 3:30 am on black friday.

Well, I was talking to my neighbor, who has been a manager at our local WM for many, many years. She often goes to meetings in Bentonville Arkansas where the main brain-trust is located. She has seen the Black Friday AD for this year, and when I asked her if there was any type of bargain that really stood out, she said NO - nothing that interested her. She said it is very much like the AD that has come out the last two or three years. "Nothing very special" were her exact words. Cheap pajamas/nightwear and slippers kind of stuff. Maybe this is why they don't want the AD leaked? Her Daughter and Daughter-in-law go out shopping together every year on Black Friday, and she always gives them a list of things to pick up for her that are at all the other stores. My Wife and I have not been to a wal-Mart on BF for four years now, Guess this will make it five.

Same here - first comment failed to post as well as my second one. What's up?

USA TODAY article: "Fearing a holiday letdown, retailers shifting strategies" http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2008-10-13-retail-gloom_N.htm

Hey Chadwick, send me an email - I'll fix you up with this thing they call a "life" Oh, and maybe a date. With a name like that, you dont get out to often I'll bet. Seriously, shoot me an email...

Why did WM blow good coin to have some third-rate, garage operation law firm send out that waste-of-a-tree garbage? I have not bothered to go into a WM on black friday in 5 years now, and I'm sure this year I'll make it 6 in a row. WM really over-prides themselves with that cheap plastic crap they try to pass off as black friday bargains. Get over yourselves, wal-mart....

I got this email today as well - Premiere Black Hmmm...CONCIERGE huh? ...I'll be having mine stand in line for me on black friday

From blu-ray.com... http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1740

We'll be in Springfield, IL

We got the ad yesterday as well, it was bundled in the weekly shopper paper everyone around here gets in the mail - so wally can't throw a fit about "leaks" any more. Anyway, this is flat-out the >>>WORST<<< black friday ad this year, it's like they didn't even try! (not that Wal mart was going to be one of our stops anyhow, but still...)

AMEN to that. All hopes were dashed - big time.

An article from the New York Times: Don’t expect kamikaze pricing on LCD TVs this Thanksgiving, but you might find a real deal in a big plasma set. That’s the conclusion reached by Colin McGranahan, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, who just got back from the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference. Overall, prices for LCD sets should be about 15 to 19 percent lower than a year ago, not quite the 30 percent price drop of last year. Plasma sets will fall in price by about 25 percent, Mr. McGranahan said. Indeed, you may well be able to pick up a 42-inch plasma set for less than $600 on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Supply may be a little tight for 20-inch to 32-inch sets from the second- and third-tier manufacturers, Vizio and Syntax-Brillian, the maker of the Olivia brand, which are gaining the most share. The lower-priced makers are benefiting from a softening of HD mania and a strong preference by consumers for lower-priced sets, Mr. McGranahan wrote. HD sales were actually lower in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier, both in dollars and the number of actual sets sold. The top-tier brands, especially Sony and Samsung, are losing share, and thus they aren’t suffering from supply shortages. These companies have to differentiate their products through fancy features like higher resolution, frame rate and contrast ratios. This has made the gap between the high and low price points for a given size, Mr. McGranahan wrote, as wide “as the price differential of a Toyota Camry versus a Mercedes S Class!” This approach may well be a mistake for the high-end brands, he concluded: In our view, the major shift in the TV market from older CRT sets to ATV sets is largely complete. We think enhancements within the ATV space will not be as valuable given that many of the early-stage (last few years) ATV features are still considerably better than what most consumers were accustomed to with CRT sets; i.e. we think consumers will settle for low- to mid-tier TVs because they will be far better than the CRT sets that they replace. LINK >>>>>> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/black-friday-alert-big-plasma-sets-on-sale/

Last year I was in line all night in front of Best Buy, about 40th in line, and with about five minutes before the doors are about to open a guy up ahead in line decides he can't hold it anymore - his bladder is about to explode from all the coffee he's been downing all night and he's doing the wee-wee dance. He asks the people behind him if they could please hold his place in line because he has got to go RIGHT NOW. There's no time to hit hit a gas station, so the guy trots out to the center of the parking lot and pees on the ground between two cars and makes it back to the line with just enough time to spare. Also, my Wife and I have seen a guy wizz into an empty pepsi bottle while in line (at least he did it under a blanket) and once while going out to our van after hitting ShopKo after it opened I kicked what I thought was an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken box only to discover that someone had pooped in it. People are gross.

I have a relative who is a manager at our local wal-mart - he/she has had a look at the actual black friday AD but did not tell me any exact items that would be on sale, saying only that it is about on par with the AD they have had over the past couple of years - which I took as being suck-worthy. So perhaps, as others have mentioned, this might be the reason wal-mart is so paranoid, maybe the AD really is a dog. Anyhow, as wally world is being such jerks about their AD, my wife and I have decided to not shop at WM >>>EVER AGAIN!<<< from now on, it's ShopKo, Target and Best Buy!!! BTW, my relative, the WM manager, says that the suits in Bentonville Arkansas (WM HQ) are a little worried about how they will perform this shopping season. he/she had to go there for a get-together with other management people, and said that there is a tone of urgency among the corporate folks.

Freeze to death while we watch the employees inside the store laugh as they stare at us through the windows. Last year some of us pitched pennies against the outside of the ShopKo while we waited in line - scored a whole 18 cents before the store opened! Sweet!!!

OK - I >>> AM <<< a man.... hope I'll be gettin' some DVDs , any cool electronic gizmos, maybe a couple of those plug-and-play TV Games be creative ladies!

This friday and saturday only Shopko will be selling Protron DVD players for $24.99 - anyone know anything about the quality of these?

Here's a black friday-worthy deal: this friday and saturday only Shopko will be selling RCA Lyra 128MB players for $34.99 - not bad!

anyone know how good the quality is on the Venturer 6.2 inch portable DVD player for $79.86 that wal-mart will have? Can't find any reviews for it anywhere.

been lurking for a couple weeks now - so here's my first post! gotta question: we have dial-up connection - how long would it take to download songs onto an MP3 player from a site such as napster? Thanks in advance!