mcwalker

I like the idea of a workshop. I figure a lot of people would find one both fun and informative, if a good presentation is made. Maybe what we need is a "speakers bureau" where we "BF experts" offer to give a brief talk, maybe in exchage for a free dinner. Anyone want to prepare a slick PowerPoint presentation with tips and tricks? :) On the other hand, are we sure we want to tell other locals how to get the doorbuster we are looking for?

Or another option is to go in the store with more than one person, putting one person in the line for each item you want, just as some people split up and wait in line at different stores. I would expect that it will likely be one unit per person in line, though, so that you would have to actually have a person for each individual item, not one person to pick up three of an item for different people.

I thought about ZipCar, and I am even a member, though I have not used one yet. Unfortunately, almost all the cars in my immediate area are already booked for that time period and their price is pretty high for the period that I would need. Still leaning toward shopping by subway/on foot with a nephew, a cart, and a backpack, and make a mid morning stop at home to drop things off, then go back out. There have to be others (teenagers in the five boroughs?) who take transit to at least one or two stores on BF, but doesn't look like any of the serious shoppers on GD have done this (myself included).

Photo 1: Now all I need are some reindeer to pull these carts. Photo 2: This stuff is for my wife, but THAT one is for my girlfriend! Photo 3: At least these chairs are more comfortable than the ones at the airport.

I love cranberry sauce at the holidays! I haven't made this exact recipe, but many will do the trick. 4 cups fresh cranberries 1 1/2 cups water 5 whole cloves 5 whole allspice berries 3 cinnamon sticks 2 cups white sugar Place cranberries and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Wrap cloves, allspice berries and cinnamon sticks in a spice bag and place in the water with cranberries. Cook until cranberries begin to burst, about 10 minutes. Stir in sugar and reduce heat to low. Continue cooking 5 minutes, or until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Discard spice bag. Chill in the refrigerator 8 hours before serving.

The adventure: starting out in the dead quiet of the night and going somewhere where lots of people just as crazy as me are standing in line in the wee hours of the morning in anticipation. And, I have probably just missed it, but where are the rows of dancing monkeys this year? So here is one... :2monkey::2monkey::2monkey::2monkey: and (purple?) elephants? :2elephant:2elephant:2elephant:2elephant:2elephant:2elephant:2elephant:2elephant

I vow... ...not to make any vows that I can't keep! (Kind of dodges the bullet, huh.)

Oh. Thanks for the tip, got it!

Thanks for pointing this out. I am looking at HDTVs of about this size to replace a smaller unit with separate box, and want both ATSC and QAM tuners built in.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I was really wondering if anyone else had done this, in NYC or other cities (Boston, Philly, San Francisco, Chicago?) and what your experiences were. Getting to the first store, whatever that is, is no problem. I might drop some things at home after the first couple of stores, but that would loose time during the critical morning hours. I will be working on getting my wife and a friend or two to join me, but of course they will have some of their own purchases to carry. I will definitely have a cart to carry things. I already see some items on the Sears ad that might start loading me down, and we haven't even seen many other adds yet.

This is kind of a "New York question", but here goes: Has anyone done their Black Friday shopping by public transit? I live in New York City (Queens) and don't own a car. The past three years when I shopped on Black Friday I was traveling and had a rental car or had a rental car for the holiday and shopped on Long Island. This year, I will be home in Queens for the holiday and rental car rates are so high in the metro area now that it would negate any savings I might see, so I am contemplating Black Friday shopping by public transit (subway). The real issue isn't so much getting to the stores, as many of the best ones are easily accessible by subway not far from home. The bigger issue may be not having a trunk to stash stuff in between stores. then again, I was thinking about buying less this year anyway, and maybe some appliances that would be delivered anyway. Anyone else have experience with a BF shopping blitz by public transit? And hey, it's the GREEN thing to do.

On BF I am shopping mostly for Christmas, but that includes things for myself or home. I do hold off on some needs and get them that day. To look at it another way, I sometimes hold things that we "need" for Christmas, instead of using them earlier, because that makes for more "surprises" for someone to unwrap. Even a toaster is more "fun" on Christmas than on, say, October 26!

This will be just my fourth year. My family traditionally made a point of NOT shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend, to make it a non-commercial holiday, in part because some of us often traveled far to gather on a family farm in Texas and have a "traditional" holiday. That ended for me three years ago when we gathered in a subrban area outside Chicago instead and I hit the stores early. I am hooked now.

Thought it might be Weatherford / Fort Worth Texas (where my parents are, where I was last year), but looks like it will be Long Island New York, closer to my Queens home.

I've just been shopping BF the past three years and each time got out early (3-5 AM) but did not camp out. While the very best electronics deals (laptops especially) were gone early, I did get "doorbuster" deals on some other electronics, such as three smaller TVs, a printer, bluetooth earpieces, etc, and doorbuster and other very good deals on many other items (toys, clothes). Each time, my wife joined me only later in the morning/afternoon and got some good deals mostly on clothing and jewelry gifts. I have also been moving to some online deals now. :)

Always depends on the ads, but in the past: Best Buy, Target, Kohls, a pharmacy, Radio Shack, and others. This year may also be looking for major appliances, but probably don't have to be in early line for those.

In the past, I have shopped for mostly smaller "discretionary" items on BF, but this year I find myself in the market for major kitchen appliances (refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and over-the-range-microwave) due to a remodeling project underway. My question is: are prices on BF (or BF weekend) for these large items really much better than weekly or seasonal sales?

Well, me and nephew, twice. Brother joined one year in New York directly off flight from Texas, but probably never again. Wife only joins me later in the morning/afternoon. Or alone. Not sure what this year holds.

Not sure this year. I am still engaged in a late-running major kitchen and bath remodeling, so I may be in the market for a kitchen appliance or two that I originally expected to get during the summer. Not sure the BF deals on those are really that different from other good sales though. 1 New refrigerator? 2 Over range Microwave? Probably before BF 3 Dishwasher? " " "" 4 New stove or 5 small and medium HDTVs for kitchen and bedroom to upgrade from models purchased a couple of years ago on BF. 6 a netbook

I can wait. More urgent things to do this month (like finish that kitchen/bath remodeling project).

Picked up some tags and wrapping paper at Rite Aid in Washington DC yesterday at 90% off. Not much left in my NYC Rite Aid stores though.

I forgot to put Office Max and a few other nationalchains in the survey. I got the last Sony BluRay player at the small Sears outlet in the small town I am visiting the day before Thanksgiving and will get a price adjustment to the doorbuster price later this morning. Just ordered my second priority item, a Garmin GPS from Radio Shack, online at BF price with free shipping to home, so one less thing to carry on airplane home. No critical "wait in line" items at this point, so I will just head out early and pick up some easier items and cruise the aisles with the crowds.

People who do not physoically remain in a line, or have family members holding their place (notwithstanding bathroom breaks and the like) do not have a right to move ahead od anybody who follows store/property rules. While store managers don't have a legal responsibility, I think that they have an obligation to assist in maintaining an orderly line and fair practice, including calling the police if people skip. I was at a BB on Long Island last year. They had arranged for city police to sit in the lot in front of the store for the night. (What else are on-duty cops doing that night anyway?) There were still at least a couple of people who slipped in the line as it moved further back where I was, but the police kept things orderly and fair at the front mainly just by being there. Suggestion: If people are trying to skip, call the police. No one is likely to get arrested, but police will likely mediate, and people will think twice about skipping.

Note: You can only 'vote' in a poll once, so make sure to read the ads and WAIT until your plan is "set" before responding to the poll (but you can post comments as many times as you like). What stores do you plan to visit any time on Black Friday? Select all the stores you expect to visit during the day (or night). This is one of two related polls. The other asks you to indicate the FIRST store that you plan to visit on Black Friday. This is for all the stores you will visit (time permitting).

Surpisingly disappointed with JCP's Doorbusters, as JCP is my preferred all-around department store these days. Not a single thing I want at the prices offered. Waiting for the rest, but doorbusters are usually the best deals.