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Black Friday by NYC Public Transit?


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Posted (edited)

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.

Edited by bigjimslade
updating title
Posted
Sorry, no advice I have lived in Ohio all my life in a little ol town that doesn't even have cabs! Just wanted to say I'm so jealous of you! I've wanted to visit New York my whole life!
Posted
As long as your purchases are not to hard to carry or they can be delivered why not. Would it be possible to drop things off at home if needed? You might also want to consider a small rolling duffle bag to keep your purchases in.
Posted

As long as your purchases are not to hard to carry or they can be delivered why not. Would it be possible to drop things off at home if needed? You might also want to consider a small rolling duffle bag to keep your purchases in.

Along with Elmck's suggestions, how about temporarily storing items at friend's houses located strategically throughout your shopping area. Many people have off on Black Friday, even if they don't go off shopping.

Posted

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.

Posted

If I lived in San Francisco and wanted to do BF, I'd actually leave the city. (I live in the burbs outside of the city.)

 

However, if I only wanted to hit ONE store or the mall, I'd take public transit and then cab it home or make my husband pick me up later.

Posted
I've never done BF on public transportation, but I'm thinking that maybe you should use a backpack to carry your stuff around. I typically buy a lot of little things - clothes and games, etc so most of what I buy could be stuffed into a big backpack. You should also bring those bags you use at the grocery store, as they would be better than carrying around the plastic bags whose handles will break. I have one of those big L.L. Bean beach bags that I use to carry my purchases around department stores. Maybe something like that would help you?
Posted (edited)
There is no way that I could due black friday on the subway!!! I have a problem fitting my goods into mine and my husbands suvs. You may be better off online. Or you might be able to find someone to split the cost of a rental with. If you figure it out it may make for a great holiday survival book. You may want to try the Palisades mall. It is not far from the city and has a lot of stores, but you would still have to get all that crap home. i have no idea what the crowds would be like though. Heading to CT and paying a smaller sales tax may offset the price of a rental car if you plan on doing major shopping. You could even just take the train to and from CT. I now have one more excuse not to live in the city!!!! Take that dh. Edited by chefswife
wanted to add more
Posted
what about those cars that you rent for a day, they're all over chicago, they're not like regular car rental places, they're parked all over the city? I can't remember what they're called...
Posted

what about those cars that you rent for a day, they're all over chicago, they're not like regular car rental places, they're parked all over the city? I can't remember what they're called...

It's called ZipCar

Posted

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).

Posted
You could always take the subway to whatever store(s) you're going to, and then call a car service to get home. I'm also in NYC and unless I'm buying a really big item in which I'll take a car, I do all my travelling by subway or bus and have lugged home tons of packages on them with no problem. But I would call a car service if I couldn't get all the packages back home with me.
Posted

I've used Chicago Public Transit to go Black Friday shopping before. However, I don't normally do door busters... I usually buy computer hardware and video games which aren't heavy, so a large backpack is usually more than adequate.

 

I have purchased laptops before and had to take them home on the subway... I concealed them using old paper bags from Whole Foods/Trader Joe's so I wasn't standing on a platform with a pack that screamed "BRAND NEW LAPTOP from Best Buy!"

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