mcwalker

Thanks! First ad of some use to me this year. There are those nice "after rebate" offers I have come to expect from Ace! Note that the 50% off any regular-price item under $30 on Saturday Only is also a good deal. :) (Limit is one per household, but you could probably get around that if you are crafty.)

I might listen in if no schedule conflicts. It would need to be after 7:00 PM eastern time for me. Not sure I have a question to pose, but might think of something.

Each of the past few years I have gotten some very good deals at Kohls (with the Kohls cash offers and now a Kohls card for discounts), and I have returned to Kohls later in the morning with my wife, who does not go out early and wait in lines. Kohls has never been my first or second stop though, and I think it might be better not to go there first--let some of those initial lines diminish before you show up, most doorbusters should still be available through most of the morning. Still best if you can put one person in line while another shops, though.

The GottaDeal "My List" has been working great for me, with key personal notes added. It is very compact and easy to fold and carry in a pocket. I can't imagine carying a binder into stores wher I will be rushing about. I may need to go a bit further, especially if I get into any price matching, but I will still look for compact pocket size methods.

I grew up on Bluffview Boulevard a bit east of Love Field (between Lovers Lane, Midway Road, Northwest Hwy, and Inwood Road). My brother and I used to ride our bikes down to the very first Half Price Books store on Lovers Lane at Inwood, which was just a small storefront in those days (the 1970s).

Looking forward to the Ace Hardware ad, as I have found a few things of greater interest there in the past few years.

1: After having a blast bowling with a big red ball and shopping carts, all the shoppers left before the store opened. 2: Two shoppers looking to buy more X-Box games so they will have something different to play while they wait in line next Black Friday. 3: "Everyone, this is the employee's entrance; the line to get in the store is on the other side of the building."

The October 12 Walmart press release on toy price reductions mentions the Hot 20 toys list by the Toy Insider as an authoritative list of the top toys of the season. The 2010 Hot 20, classified by age group, can be viewed at the following link: http://www.thetoyinsider.com/wordpress/ Some of the links on the page are not working yet but, based on past years, it looks like they will be adding additional guide information by November. :) For reference, the 2009 list is here: http://www.thetoyinsider.com/hot20.php

I have a TomTom that is a few years old and does not have lifetime updates. I checked recently and was surprised at the cost of updates. On the other hand, roads don't really change that often, so for the most part it should be OK. I figure I will wait a year or two then update once (or replace the unit if that seems a better deal.) Anyway, a word to the wise: consider the cost of updates or the value of unlimited updates when purchasing and factor into the price.

Great videos. I hope some of the store managers watch some and learn something about crowd control.

T'was the night before Black Friday and through the line everyone was stirring.

Happy "Half Way Point": 50 days to Black Friday today! (As Brad noted, not yesterday as some had figured.) :gdclock::gdclock::gdclock:

Note these are SOLD OUT as of 1:20 PM Eastern time.

Regarding the question about whether it is worthwhile to camp out at Sears, you should also consider the possibility of a price adjustment. That is, you buy the merchandise shortly before Black Friday (say Wednesday before Thanksgiving, or maybe earlier), then you return to the store anytime during the BF doorbuster hours and they give you a refund of the difference between what you paid and the doorbuster price. I did this a couple of years ago at a Sears and got my Sony BluRay player--the only one the small Sears had, on the day before Thanksgiving. I then returned on BF after hitting other stores to get the price adjustment and pick up some other minor doorbusters. Especially, since your dad works at Sears, he should be able to confirm all the details for you with the Manager (his boss). If you put the purchase on a credit card, you will probably get the adjustment applied to the account before you actually pay, so you won't actually fork over the full price, just check the monthly closing date for your card if that is an issue.

I grew up in Big D (Dallas) and remember Nieman Marcus' famous "his and hers" gifts, like his and hers Mercedes, or one year his and hers miniature submarines. Guess I will have to send my personal shopper or fly my Learjet down and buy one of those $250,000 houseboats to dock at my slip on the Hudson River or a Dale Chihuly swimming pool for a cool $1.5 mil. Or maybe not.

I just started shopping on Black Friday four years ago, so I have to take people's word that it was different before then. In those four years I have found some very good deals in stores and also increasingly find deals online. I have never literally camped out and don't see deals that I think are worth doing that. On the other hand some of the deals (or the cumulative value of the deals I get that morning) are worth it to me, but others would see that differently. It is at least half for the "adventure" and newfound tradition of going out for me. Another change is that the price of electronics steadily falls, so 40% off the "regular" price of something that used to cost $1,000 isn't as big anymore when the price of a similar item has fallen to, say, $400. (Think of the digital camera, computer, laptop, or TV that you could get for $500 ten years ago compared to what the equivalent item costs today.) On the other hand, no matter the statistics (they cite a change of 10 percent just from last year, which is significant), there will be big crowds of people out waiting in line and vying for deals, so it will still be "Black Friday" for those of us who will be out there with them.

Some members of my family think so. Wife doesn't necesarily think it is crazy, but she won't get in line at 3AM (or earlier). My brother flew in on Thanksgiving for a visit a couple of years ago and went with me and my nephew while we waited in line at BB on a rather cold morning. He split to go to a Kohls at opening, and tagged along with us the rest of the morning, but says he won't ever do it again.

Anyone for a camping trip to the North Carolina coast? How about Thanksgiving holiday? Forget wildlife and natural scenery, lets camp....in a parking lot!

Just wondering: if you wanted to buy more than one of the same ticketed doorbuster at BB (say one for yourself and one to give or for another shopper at another store), would they let you have more than one ticket for the same item, or would you have to have extra people with you to get the additional tickets? (Note: As I have stated in other threads, I am in favor of having them require people to write their names on tickets when the get them to prevent ticket scalping.)

Well , since they have been recalled, at least they should be able to take them back to Kohls and get a credit for them.

Congratulations to the winners. Now let's hope that Blue*, Tarmax4, pretweety7/amykay9377, dealluvr, and silverstreak24 are right because they predicted: Half Price Books tomorrow, October 1 Ace Hardware and Harbor Freight on October 2 Walgreens on October 9 Sears on October 17 (earliest predictions for each of those stores--sorry if I missed any) :)

I rather like the Lego games that are mentioned in the CNN piece as they combine putting something together with game play. The ones I like create 3D board games. (Some others have game pieces, but no board.) Four examples: Lego Bazaar [ATTACH]5546[/ATTACH] Lego Minotaurus [ATTACH]5549[/ATTACH] Lego Hogwarts (Harry Potter) Lego 3D Race [ATTACH]5545[/ATTACH]

Great idea Brad. I agree with the press release. I know there has been some debate on this, but I think it would be appropriate for stores that hand out vouchers to ask that people to write their name on the voucher in front of the person handing them out and only that person (with ID) can use the voucher, to prevent "voucher scalping." I also remember an issue where the people handing out some vouchers were not careful to identify the voucher they are passing out and ask each person in line if they want one. I recall a situation where someone was talking to one person passing out vouchers and another person with a voucher they wanted passed them by. Stated generally, "make a plan for everything and do everything in a systematic and orderly manner." (The customers will be disorderly enough.)

From each stores's standpoint, the best postion is to open before your competitors, second best is to open at the same time as competitors, and the worst position is to open after competitors, when many people have already spent part of their budget and are starting to ask "do I really need this?" Since they can't control what other stores do, they all push earlier and earlier.

I agree with all the comments--the lists are just fine to the extent that I want to check a reference. I used to keep the pdfs, but have deleted them. On a related note, I am somewhat curious to see every time I come on the forums, that there are more people viewing the Black Friday Archives (28 as I write) than are looking at the current Black Friday Discussion (currently 11). I know that there are great "how to" references, and I know that the balance will change dramatically soon as BF draws closer and the ads start coming, but I find it curious anyway. Are you shopping last year's merchandise, reliving memories of sugarplums and great deals, or just living in the past?