Official One-and-Only "What I Got" / "My BF Experience" Thread

[floridasun5]

I just got back from out shopping and was really surprised at how calm all the stores were. It was like normal shopping here. I know most people were probably home by the time I left (10am), but I was very happy with the lack of crowds, how easy it was to find parking, etc.

 

Granted, I didnt go after any big electronics or hot items, but hit the mall/ Ulta, Walgreens and Target and got everything I wanted except a few $1 items at Ulta and some towels at Target. So now, other than a gift basket, cookies that I still have to bake and 1-2 more things for my dd, I am done with shopping!

[propergrammar]

I had nothing major I wanted to get, but headed to TRU at 4am.

 

No problem -- got one item that I knew wasn't on sale. Heard it was a madhouse between midnight - 1am.

 

Went to Wal-Mart. Wanted a $40 digital camera that wasn't on sale. After being pushed and shoved back to the electronics, I tried to pull it off the hook and the hook was locked! Since getting an associate to unlock it would be unheard of at 5:15, I just left.

 

Best Buy was awesome. I got one of the digital cameras there, but just by chance. Obviously someone had tossed it back in the wrong place and I was there at the right time. Even with the long lines (halfway around the store), the wait was maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

Our mall, which holds JCPenney and Sears, among others, was light and quick.

 

KMart was worthless. We left empty-handed.

 

Now off to shop online.

[iluvwalmart]

Walmart was a mess.... we have always had a peaceful day in a small town. this year with their new rules, they created lines then changed them around at 1am. had people going to the wrong lines. decided that they didnt want to anger the people that had created their OWN line for the laptops instead of the premade one, so they removed their ropes and said ok youre the line now.. i was very upset told the manager, am writing to walmart. It became very hostile and people were very rude. we have never had this happen. granted some may be econmy but i had teen girls saying they were going to knock me out and a preg. woman got told that someone was going to shove a cart in her stomach... we have never had anything like this happen. we are a small town and a safe town.. o r so i thought. I actually got out of line becuase i could not tolerate peoples behaviors and how crazy everyone was acting. I hope they change their plan and realize that what works in one store doesn't in all.. or simple.. give out tickets like at best buy where we wait outside and someone goes through and asks who wants want until tickets are gone. i went to target at 5:09 people running but not crazy and people helping other people find things... shame on you walmart.. you won no points this year.. target was 100x better!

Our Walmart was great with the new system. I was there little after 3, put all the items I wanted into a cart & waited for 5. I was out of the store at 5:19.

 

I really liked the way they did things this year. It was well organized at our store. Was nice to get your stuff without having to fight other people. I hope they do it again next year.

 

Given how early we got done at Walmart was able to do Menards this year. Although it was crzy standing in line waiting. LOL

[ov3rload]

Overslept and woke up at 6:40am. Left to go to Target not anticipating much left. Looked around for the 32in and 40in television. About to give up and head out into the mall and on the way down the escalator, saw ONE 40in TV next to the top of the escalator. Ran up the 'going down' escalator and look around for someone to claim the TV. No one did, so I took it :)

 

Also bought The Dark Knight, two fleece jackets, and Milk (to bear my hunger)!

Edited November 27, 2009 by ov3rload

[rogue1230]

i went to Walmart this morning at 4:15 stood in line and got my "ticket" for my laptop which was supposed to make things so much easier. Anyways i paid for the laptop and other items totalling close to $600 went back to Tire and Lube where we were supposed to pick up the computers and was told they did not have any. The manager did not respond to my calls for him so I called 1-800-Walmart and was told the complaint would be forwarded blah blah, I was given my money back but needless to say i was and still am not happy, I just called the store and got the store manager on the phone and he hung up on me, so i called back and guess what... he hung up on me again. I AM SO TICKED!!!!

WHOA!~ that is horrendous! Where are you located? I will totally join your rally cry....Holy ::Bleep::

[salundquis]

Got to Walmart at around 4:00am...all tickets were given out for all of the laptops. We went shopping around and got toys that we needed. My friend got the ds lites for her kids. Then we sat in a line for about 1 1/2 hours. The line just happened to be in front of the 298 laptops. The had about 20 of them...people took tickets and did not pick them up. The manager came by and said that they could give the laptops to anyone who wanted them. We each got one. Was home by 8:00am. Not too shabby :)

[erose630]

Had a great day! Did TRU, WM, Kohl's, Petsmart, price adjusted at Target and then was home by 8am - got everything on my list (including the last leapster at TRU) hooray!

[johntodd]

Score! Last two Terabyte drives Target had, Vivitar 5.1mp camera for $29 (Target unadvertised special!), Gamer chair for my son, buy 2 get one free Xbox360 games at Gamestop, and 10 Poinsettas at Home Depot.

 

Not a bad haul for a couple hours work.

[Tigger97498]

Oh forgot and I snagged a Kodak Theatre Media Player off QVC as I was getting ready to leave for Staples. Saw the presentation on tv while i was getting ready and it was a REALLY good deal. $199 at Best Buy aand it was $124 this morning only on QVC.

[crys]

I was at TRU by 9:30 or so. I was about the 105 person, so I was dreading not getting a Zhu Zhu. However, not everyone got one so I was very pleased to end up getting a ticket. The line was several thousand people. It extended past a former Circuit City, Hobby Force, Old Navy, orthodontist, Once Upon a Child, Plato's Closet, Pet store, and several more stores. There were line jumpers galore. One called me a Jack Ass because I was rallying the people around me to turn our backs to them and form a chain so they couildn't enter! YAYYYYY! I was in and ouit in 4 minutes. I got Zhu accessories also and the Crayola tub. Store ended up being shut down and the police had to break up several skirmishes!

 

Headed to Old Navy, where my kids were stationed as number 2 in line. We got Wii Lego and purchased $70 or so and out in 8 minutes because they opened about 5 minutes early.

 

Then onto Walmart...ugh ropes and twists and turns. Ran around getting my price matching stuff. Got several PSP games to pricematch early. I weas inline by New Moon games and the LPS houses and it became a ZOOOOO! SEveral people were escorted OUT of the store for getting into the pallets early. They kept making announcements that said they would kick you out if caught.

 

Then I headed to Target for my price adjustment, no line. Went to Dicks and TJ Maxx, then on to Pet Smart, where I was checking out my Target receipt and realized they forgot the video rocker. Headed back to Target and the Customer Service line was HUGE. They started checking people out there. I grabbed an associate to explain my dilemma and no such luck. So I had to wait and several people line jumped there in that little line. I got a little bitter and became mouthy. They didn't care though.

 

Happy days!

I got everything I needed today!

[JohnnyLaRue]

Tried to do the online thing for the 1st time and it was a miserable failure. Just wanted a decent camera and by the time Frys webpage would load the camera I wanted was gone. I go to the TRU website and the item did not have the sale price in the cart and by the time the sale price was posted the item was sold out. I even tried BB and yup sold out...

 

Frustrated by online shopping I had to mellow out.

 

Around 3am I drove over to the BB and realized my quest for a camera and to save $50 for a camera that was not my 1st choice on my list was sooooo not worth dealing with the madness. I then tried to talk myself into waiting in line because this is my last Black Friday ever.

 

But I decided to just go home grab some food from BK and not be pressured into buying something I don't want. So my last Black Friday experience was nowhere as good as years past. First year I did not buy anything or wait in a line.

 

Currently in my bed watching the local morning news who are mocking the people who stood in line. Some things never change...

[1josh]

I went to Target today to buy some sd cards. The line to the electronics section seemed to be the shortest so.... I went there. Well, those who were buying big electronics items (and could not get the actual product until the were right in front of the cashier), were not allowed to buy the non-electronic items they had in their carts. So... what the cashier explained was that they would only ring up the electronics and that they would have to make the other line to pay for the other items...

 

These people waited on the electronics line for over one hour and they were basically being told you have to go and make the other line, which btw was three times as long. People left there upset and the electronics department looked like a mini department store; there were items from all of the other departments because people were leaving them there since they did not want to wait another hour or two on the other line.

 

What a shame! Did this happen to anyone else.

[KBsDarling]

Verdict is in and the new Walmart system STINKS! We were not after the hugh end stuff at all BUT since they had these huge jumbles of people EVERYWHERE for 2-3+ hrs they took it upon themselves to open all the OTHER pallets so by 5am there were NO Tracksuits Sweatshirts or PJs(yes I know they are cheap made BUT they are a good filler item on gifts) Literally there were women with 2 carts FULL of these items...and then they just blocked aisles till 5am and they could get what they were "really" after It was HORRID and I have never been so disappointed in Walmart and that sadly is saying alot

 

also was told by WM that at 5am it is too busy to get anything out of the case(yes it is busy but....) so they would not price match ANY high dollar video games or smaller electronics that need an associate to get it from the locked case/peg

 

Now on to the BEST part...have never set foot in a HH Gregg before but ANY TIME i need to buy electronics we will look at them. They not only got it right(well organized beyond any expectations i have EVER fathomed on BF) but had a super deal on the Garmin we wanted. Already stopped back in after the madness of the day to leave a note for store manager about how well it was done and got to tell him in person as he was out on the floor working. We circled back to original store because all day DH and I kept saying "wow they did it so right" Planning to email corp. as well cause the store needs serious KUDOS for how well it was put on!

 

we *tried* old navy....was picking out sweaters and Dh went to get in line. I talked with a lady about 1/2 way back the line and she said she got in line in that spot almost an hour before and had not moved. After several people around piped in with agreement decided that I just didnt have 3+ hrs to wait in line.

Edited November 27, 2009 by KBsDarling

[noehlp]

Went to Kmart's Thanksgiving Day Sale and picked up a set of Maxwell Ear Buds for $2.79. Then came back home and watched the madness unfold on here. :) That was my BF experience this year.

[shhimundercover]

I was pretty much shopping for DVDs and that's pretty much it. Only problem I ran into was that the usual Wal-mart I've gone to the past 7 or so years, didn't seem to have what they advertised and such. All I could find were the $2 DVD's, I asked around the answers I kept getting were oh, they are around the store. Nobody could really point to where? Must have walked around the store for 2 hrs and such, looking for the $5 & $9 newer release ones. Pretty much gave up, and grabbed the DVD's from their usual spots. Got Star Trek, Blazing Sadles, Rush Hour, Drag Me to Hell, and State of Play.

 

My next stop was Target, mainly for the Psych: Third Season DVD. Also got Paul Blart & Step Brothers. The line seemed to go forever, all around the store.

 

I ended up going to the other Wal-Mart a few miles away, and they had so much more than the other one. Ended up with Gran Torino, The Wrestler, The Kite Runner, The International

Patriot Games, Step Brothers, Spiderman 3, & The Firm.

 

Ended up buying the Regular Editions of The Wizard of Oz & Gone With The Wind at the mall.

 

Also bought two pairs of Dockers from Sears as well.

[jlk6497]

So I take it no one got a DS online????????

[lesliepear]

Yes, they did the same in the Hackensack Target. However by the time I'd gotten online for the DSi and was done, the regular lines shortened up quite a bit.

[92Hoosier]

I did a ton of online shopping, so I just hit Macy's this morning. They opened at 5 am, I went at 5:45 am, and left with tons of gifts and a few things for myself. Was home by 8 am and even had time to stop at Starbucks on the way home. They don't have the best deals on TVs and toys like the Walmarts and Targets, but my husband is an employee so I get extra percentage off of the reduced prices. Worth it to shop in less than 2 hours and have employees begging me to let them check me out!! Got sweaters, blankets, shoes, slippers, purses, etc.

[dustysky]

We were #1 in line at our Best Buy at 9:30 Thursday morning.

I was happy I had no worries about getting what we came for but I was so socked at home many people came to us and asked us to get tickets for "stuff" for them.

 

My son (age 18 got the HP 198. laptop)

I got:

$198. HP laptop

$99. Blue Ray (with free beetle juice blue ray movie

$119. white with pink dots digital camera

$299. E-machine PC

 

Hubby was at Sears and got:

$19.99 - down comforters (x4 1 for each of us)

$29.99 - Ihome Ipod clock radio

$29.00 - new balance sneaks for hubby

 

All in all I think we did pretty well.

The comforters alone were a steal.

[felixdacat]

After doing all MY shopping online (see previous post), my wife decided that I needed to take may son to Best Buy. His birthday was in October and he had gotten a $50 gift card. He believed that the best bang for his buck was on BF, so he patiently waited till today to buy some DS games.

We went to the Alpharetta, Georgia BB and got there around 11. Took an extra lap to find parking. The store was crowded and I could see a long line to check out. I also noticed some 32" Dynex HDTV's left.

Of course my son picked out 2 games that were not on sale (he will learn, he will learn). When we got on the check out line there was likely 50+ people ahead of us, but within 5 minutes we had paid up.

I then toured the store to see what was left. The Dynex's were not popular. They must have still had 30+ left of the 32", 20+ left of the 40", and 30+ left of the 19".

They had about 35 Compaq Netbooks left over. About 10 E Machines desktops, and about 10 Canon Pixma's.

I spoke to one of the workers who said he thought the crowd was lighter than the past few years. He said the initial line had only stretched down to the Staples (about 100 yards). I've seen the BB line stretch past the Staples by 5AM, in years past.

 

FX

[gim77]

I did most of my shopping online before Black Friday at Kohls, Ny and Company and Amazon. I went to the Tanger Outlets at 4am, mainly for the 50% off the entire store at Banana Republic. Ended up getting two full bags of clothes and saved $310 dollars which was amazing. The store was completely wrecked though with no associates on the floor. Then went to Famous footwear and got 20% off two pairs of running sneakers and two pairs of dress shoes for a $70 savings. Then went to Goldtoe, bought a bag full of socks and saved another $20. I then went to Wilsons Leather and bought a wallet for 30% off. Done in about 2 hours and went to 5 stores. Saved close to $500 today!

[jean111]

Arrived at Walmart at 4:00. Inside, a circular and map were given. Anything X'ed of on the map meant it was sold out. (That meant almost all the items.) No one could check out till 5:00. That created a mob scene, with everyone piling up around the registers, no structure to the check out, just a free-for-all! It was bad. One man, who bought the 32" TV told me he had been there since 10:00 the night before. Another since 1:00. It was too crazy. I will not be back.

[shanecrow99]

Thank God they didn't do that to us or it would have been a nightmare. My Target had spread out the doorbuster items and spread them out throughout the store (like WalMart). I was handed a map so I knew exactly where the high dollar items were.

[smurfgirl]

I got to Walmart at 4:30 and found the gps's. I sent my mom to get a crockpot and some toys. They only had 13 of the $13 dollar ones. She managed to snag one! It was crazy around the gps's. About 5 till 5 everyone started grabbing. I did manage to get one and 2 digital frames. As we were leaving the store 2 people went running out with employees chasing them. They made it out the store, but the cops were there and caught at least one of them. I guess they were trying to do a little christmast shopLifting!

 

We got to menards about 10 minutes before they opened and the line was huge to get in. They ohly let a small group in at a time, but the line moved pretty fast. We were in and out there in 10 mintues. Much better than years past.

 

Then headed to the mall to hit BBW. The mall was really slow! NO lines at all. That was a nice change. Tried Kmart, but the checkout lines were so long and not moving at all, so gave up and we were home by 8:30.

[angelashly]

Just got back from Toys R Us. Headed over there at midnight and the line was around the store through the parking lot. Took about 45 mins to get into the store, once it there it was CRAZY I couldn't find anything and most things were all gone. Thankfully they kept coming out with more stock, got most of my items. The lineup was CRAZY to check out, winding in and out of isles, it was a good 3hrs in line to check out. I almost didn't bother because I wanted to get home to get to the walmart sale, good thing I stayed because the walmart sale online is a disappointment, nothing I want is being sold online or else its sold out

 

I got: 2 Playdoh Playsets, Science Kit, iDog Mini, Crayola Tub of stuff ( I forget what it's called it ws $9.99) and the Pony Animagic (not on sale). They were all out of the iCarly video game accessories I wanted to get my daughter.

You wouldn't happen to have been in Toledo were you? I didn't even go when I saw the line there. Most that I want there is 2 days so I will go tomorrow. Went to Target and iwas in line for an hour and a half just to check out. Waited an hour at Kohls.

 

We went to Old Navy and it was packed. I got a few fleeces and a vest jacket.

Kohls: A bunch of toys, 80s scene it movie, some Isotoner leather gloves.

Target: The 30.00 rocking gamer chair, Friday Night Lights, He is Just Not that into you, Ghosts of Girlfriends past, Armor all gift pack, and a few other small things. My camera was gone since Kohls took longer than expected.

 

I may venture back out, but I haven't decided yet.

[Angelique]

Thursday morning I got the Ipod Touch at Best Buy with the $50 GC. :

 

This morning I got up at 3 and was at Walmart at 3:30. Was about 10th for the DS Lites. Had the DS around 5:10...gave up on trying to get to the toy department and checked out at 5:15, got my snowglobe at JC Penny then went to Target. It was packed as was Best Buy so I headed to Kmart. Got there just before they opened the doors. Picked up the Barbie Guitar and the skillet I wanted then headed home.

 

At 11 I had to go to work, but on the way I stopped at Target for a Pet Shop Toy and a Snuggie and Best Buy for some music CDs and the $30 pack of ITunes gift cards for $25 (they let me get 2 of them).

 

[aj4545]

At midnight I went onto Kohls website to begin my BF shopping (just as I did last year) but heavy traffic bogged it down, then it appeared to have crashed. I gave up and rushed to Walmart. I was the first one there last year at 2am but not this year! It wasn't packed but there were a lot of people there. I jumped in line for the $198 laptop and boyfried got in line for the 32" TV. I was 10th way back in the baby section and he 2nd in line just next to me in the frozen goods. Around 1:00 an employee came around to count our line...there was 14 of us and they only had 14 computers! Most of the section was already roped off, but they roped off the end of the line, put up do not enter signs and had employees stationed all around telling others that the computers were already spoken for! We all took turns going out and getting stuff from around the store. You could go ahead and pick up virtually everything! I got tons of DVDs, a couple of Wii games, digi pic frame, jammies, coffee pot, picture frames, hoodies, and track suit for DD. Boyfriends line did the same thing but they were not roped off. They came out around 4am and gave us all tickets, then at 5am gave us our laptops in the calmest line I've ever seen. But as soon as I was out of that baby section, the place was a nightmare! I was at a huge disadvantage having a cart but finally made it up to the front and waited about 45 min. in line. Last year I found an empty lane and was out in minutes! The place was a mad house and I'm so thankful that I was around such a nice bunch of people so I could get everything else I needed well before 5am.

 

We were going to try to swing by Target afterwards but it would have taken us an hour just to get into the store because of the insane amount of traffic. So we decided to come home and go to bed. Not the funnest of all my BF's but we got everything (and more!) that we were after so I can't complain too much!

 

Oh, forgot to mention, I tried to buy the stuff on Kohls website while waiting at Walmart but my phone died so when I got to the car, I put it on the charger and made my purchases on the way to Target. Keeping my fingers crossed that the order doesn't get cancelled and I get everything I ordered!

[bleyso]

Our Walmart was insane, I got there around 4:45am all good deals gone. Walmart opened early. They passed out maps which did not correspond with where they place their items around the store. Blunder, I had a hard time trying to get around the store. A lot of places roped off. Oh well, this is Black Friday.

[jadedmomof2]

Got to kohl's about 3:30, had the line barricaded so no line jumpers. Got everything we went there for, except the pink snuggie, there weren't any on the shelf by the time I got to it. Then off to Target, however when we got to kohl'4, the line for Taeget was already all around the store, so we drove to one in a neighboring city that was less crowded. Got everything there except the 32 inch tv. Then headed to Walmart, and got the desktop(needed a new one desperately) and again no 32inch tv's. Checkout at walmart took forever, until they started doing this fast pass checkouts, which worked awesomely. Then off to Joann's, got there at 6:30, waited for about 2 1/2 hours for the cutting line. Got all but one fabric I wanted. Then went to breakfast. Dropped MIL off at home, then quick trip to office max for the DVD-R's, 4gb sdhc, and picked up one of those jumbo remotes for $3.49. Then dh decided he wanted a tv no matter what, so we ended up with the sylvania 32 inch for $398 I believe. Now we're home.DH is sleeping, and I'm chilling for awhile.

[civiclover88]

I got to say that I was afraid that WM new system was going to make things worse, but it worked out wonderful! No pushing or shoving and I got everything I wanted (and then some) and was out the door by 5:15am! All the other stores had plenty of the items I wanted. All and all, my wife and I had a wonderful time. However, we have our first casualty of the season. When we got up from our nap, we noticed the frames we got from WM are chipped, cracked, and overall broken. So off we go back to see if they have more! Between online and the B&M stores, we got it all!! Thanks to all of you for the help!