PKGentry

What's at the NEX that's worth going? And, is it only early morning?

No Bubble, I'm on the other side of the state. We were at the Silverdale one.

So the boycott wasn't for the administrators then...

The PSA was a WONDERFUL idea! How nice for you! :-)

I planned to spend about $1000 including a laptop. Instead, I spent about $1800 without one :-). But I should be getting about $500 back in rebates.

Because of the way they treated BF sites (including this one), we didn't shop at Office Depot today. I'm just curious if there were any good deals there. All the stuff we normally would've gone to OD for, we bought at Staples. What did OD have?

Thanks to the local coffee guys who provided (excellent) coffee at no charge for people in line at BB and shopping at Staples. Thanks to the geek in front of us who gave us a thorough run-down on all the BB front page specs. Thanks to the Staples employees who VOLUNTEERED (really!) to work the BF shifts, and did so with a smile. Thanks to the BB manager for taking pity on 13 extra rain-saoked people by giving them better laptops at the sale price because the advertised ones went to eBay. Thanks to the outside BB manager for refusing to let anyone enter the store until everyone in line was inside.

I price matched at the BX the GameBoy from W*M because I knew there'd be no chance to get one. Also PMed, of all things, toothpaste and other sundries that we at Long's. Too far to drive.

dh couldn't wait. Opened up "my" present - the 19" monitor and hooked it up the minute I got home. lol. The kids' presents can wait.

Bremerton, WA / Our W*M had 10. Yep, 10. There was a line of 3000 people. This is a county with a population of roughly 200k. COUNTY-wide. I knew from other people's prior experiences that only the bare minimum of sale items would be available, and that it would be a free-for-all -- so we skipped W*M this year. Didn't miss it :-)

Actually, two of the the guys in the first group of people SAID they were going to make a killing on eBay, and a third was a Navy guy who said he was picking up some extra money by sitting there and saving someone's spot because they guy was going to make a lot of money on auction. The group was obviously together, so you're right, I *did* assume all 20 of them were eBayers. I think it's a valid assumption. To show up earlier wouldn't have made a difference. You couldn't line up until 2 am, and it would only have taken one of the group to save spots for the others.

There was no cutting in line at our BB. One lady saw a "friend" toward the front. She stood there chatting with him a little too long. The woman behind her said very sweetly, "You really ought to get in line now or you'll be even farther behind. I'd hate to think you were trying to cut because that would mean I'd have to take off my gloves to remove you, and I'm cold." She was a tiny little blonde, and said it so sweetly that it was scary. lol. The first lady assured her that she was just chatting, but left shortly thereafter. There was NO cutting. You just don't do things like that here without repercussions. You might have found yourself saving $400 on a laptop, but spending $800 to get your windshield or tires replaced. Saving places, yes. That was really annoying because we thought we were only 50-60 back and we went double that. Having the sheriff make regular rounds helped, I think. I was very impressed with our BB. Those ignorami who showed up at 5 am and tried to get in were made to wait until the line was completely inside before allowing them entry. BB did a great job with organization and sticking to their plan, regardless of the shrill bitter old woman screaming at the top of her lungs that she demanded entry. Faith, I love that they reserved one item per household. Wish that would've happened here. Instead 20 30-something eBay sellers who camped out took the best deals and the regular folk lost out on a lot of things.

I figured 3:30 would be early enough for the 5 am opening. My father convinced me to leave about 2 am which put us in line at about 2:35. At that time, there were about 55-60 people in front of us. By the time 5 am rolled around, that number had swollen to closer to 125. Mostly people who had others saving their spots as they sat in their warm cars. My optimism dropped as sharply as the temperature. I was pretty amazed. BB didn't even allow people to begin lining up until 2 am. Who were these crazy folks? :-) Many of them had done this before, as evidenced by the lawn chairs, blankets, propane heaters, and grills (!). It was like a big tailgating party. Around 4 am, the line behind us had grown to about 800 people. This is in rural Washington. I can't imagine what the stores in LA or Seattle must have been like. I was very impressed with the way Best Buy handled it. They began serving free coffee and donuts, making their way through the line. A port o potty was set up, and the sheriff's car made regular drives through the lot just to smile and let his presence be known. The vouchers began about 4 a.m. What they did was begin at the front of the line, with a clipboard and pair of BB employees making their way from person to person asking, "Are you here for X?" Many of them never made it to us before the items were spoken for, but we did manage to get the better camcorder and the 19" flat screen (it's gorgeous!), along with some non-voucher items. The first 20 people in line were obviously together and were eBay squatters who took one of everything small enough to be shippped. That was disappointing since most items were of a limited quantity. The BB manager recognized this, but there wasn't a lot he could do. They did have 40 laptops instead of the minimum of 10, and he went ahead and sold the 13 others he had that were slightly better quality for the ad price. The 20 $149 computers went to the first 20 people -- they're probably already up on eBay by now :-(. The big screen TVs went down the line to about the 250th person; the iPods went all the way through; the cheap camcorders went to about 150; the next step up ones to 200. So it wasn't completely bad news for people who got there at 4 am. At precisely 5, the doors opened. Three large men made certain that those who were arriving at 5 had to wait until those who had been standing in the rain for hours got inside. Because there were so many people, they had to count the number going in and out so that they didn't exceed the fire regulations. A few people showing up at 5 got nasty with the manager outside. Many of us in line made it a point to thank him for holding the line. Inside, there were tons of smiling employees directing people. I was impressed at how well everything was set up, and how most everything had been anticipated. It was very easy to find the items we were looking for, and there seemed to be plenty of advertised items (other than the big ticket voucher items, of course). Checkout took less than 15 minutes. I'm sure part of that was because we were relatively near the front of the pack, but all registers were open and the local high school cheerleaders (in much too short skirts) were volunteer baggers. Even though we didn't get the laptop or the desktop, I'd give BB a 9.5/10 for how well it was run. The only suggestion I would have is to limit voucher items to one VOUCHER per person rather than one of each item. That would've given regular folk a chance to get in on the best deals, not just the squatters.

Best price for the iPod Photo 60GB (from a reputable dealer,anyway) is bhphotovideo.com -- $335 with free shipping. Costco is $380 for the same thing, CC and BB are $400.