WalMart experience last Year

[lakee05]

I noticed a few things last year when I arrived at my local wal-mart. First off when I arrived a few hours before go-time, there were people that already had advertised merchandise (Nintendo DS bundles, picture frames, dvds, etc) in the buggies and some that had checked out. Some said that they were allowed to get the stuff and check out at 3 o'clock ahead of time. This was news to me! Also, my wal-mart has a tire and lube department (I think they all have them now) and it's located right next to the toys, I can't recall although I'm pretty sure that it's check out was not being used. Did any of these shenanigans go on at your wal-mart? In addition, I plan on making a list of questions about this black fridays details and calling my wal-marts manager for some before hand insight.

[Jen8112]

Our Walmart last year opened the doors at midnight and you we free to put things in your cart except for the big items you needed to get in line for (TVs, laptops, Blu-Ray, etc) but we had to wait until 5am to check out. I liked it better than the year before when we stood in line for 9 hours out in the freezing cold then have a mad rush in the door at 5am.

[angelbabymommy]

My friend & I went at about 230 am. Big ticket items were NOT to be touched until 5am, but other items were ok to get, like the $3 pjs. I got my cart, got all that I wanted (wasn't after big ticket items) & waited until 5am to check out. I was actually 2nd in my line. I have to give it to my local Walmart, the managers & staff handled everything well. Everyone lined up without any problems, there were no fights, they gave out free coffee to some that HAD to stay in line for the big stuff & they kept us informed about what was going on. My local store is not 24 hrs, so I hope they do what they did last year. Having the store open 24 hrs and being able to get in early to get what I wanted was a + ....I was out of there by 535 (well, at least I was out of the check out line; I had to wait for my friend who got stuck in the back of her line )

[pretweety7]

Oh WOW!! No my walmart made you wait until 5am to even put things in your buggie and if they came around and saw it they took it out and put it back. My brother grabbed one of the picture frames on sale and someone came by and told him to put it back until 5am. Although my walmart was very organized and handed out maps about where everything was at. My SIL went to go get in the laptop line and people were ahead of her talking about how they were holding spots, I went and got the manager and he said that unless they r standing in that line right then no one was getting an extra ticket and no holding places in line. I love my walmart :)

[lakee05]

This is all good info guys, Thanks. My walmart is a 24 hour one so this makes sense now. Like I said I'm going to try and talk to one of the managers a little closer to black friday and get all the scoop I can. Again, Thanks

[bigjimslade]

If I may add something.........Everything that happened at WM last year was new to them. They started this because of the Black Friday death back in 2008. A friend of mine is a WM manager and she told me that they have been fine tuning everything and it should go smoother this year.

 

@lakee05.......It is a good idea to talk to your local manager and tell him/her your concerns.

[wnc_mom]

My sister is a Walmart Manager. She is over all that so SHE decides on wether you get to get items before 5 am or at 5 am etc... I dont do walmart tho so im not familar with the process last time i was at walmart on BF was in 04 lol

[mrstoots]

Last year our Walmart let us in at 4:00 a.m., I shopped for an hour (no problem allowing us to put stuff in carts) and I checked out at 5:00 a.m. I was in the car by 5:15 and on my way to the mall! It was GREAT! But I think the people waiting for the big ticket items were probably there until at least 10:00 because when I saw them in the lines right before I checked out at 5:00, they weren't moving. And the lines were not very organized. Everyone was just kind of standing around haphazardly, looking like they were waiting for SOMETHING...

 

One thing I did hate were the ropes they used to block off entire aisles so if you started going down an aisle one way, you had to make a turn to get around to the other side!

 

[bfaddict1977]

our walmart stunk last year. I saw people lined up with carts all around the store. NO rhyme or reason to anything. Very disorganized. No one working there spoke english. I asked about the $3 toaster and the cheap micorwave. They didn't understand a word. VERY frustrating! Still have that issue. The aisles were not well organized either. Things were thrown everywhere. People were very discourteous. I did not see much help either.

[starbeck96]

At our Walmart we were allowed to put the items that were not doorbusters in our carts. Everything else you had to wait until 5AM. Now there were alot of people grabbing stuff even though they had yellow tape around it. It was confusing at first because some stuff you were allowed to get and some stuff you were not. So of course everyone was getting the toys (which was the biggest no-no) and putting it in their buggy. The bad thing is that they didn't make everyone put it back! That was frustrating.

 

Ours is not a 24 hours Walmart though and we are in a small city. They did open at midnight so at least we didn't have to stand outside for 2 hours. Overall I did like it alot better last year because at least this way people couldn't rush around you when they opened the doors after you stood there for 2 hours and they had just pulled up.. That always made me so mad!

 

I definitely hope they do it the same this year.

[ourhappyfamily4]

Ours you had to wait till time to get the items. People were lined up all over the store, waiting till they unveiled the goodies. They ran out of some stuff, and then other things they had left for a week later.

[Katyloveshockey]

The Wal-Mart I go to every BF was pretty tame as compared to previous BF's. The line was organized and there was security there to explain the layout of things and the rules of how to get 'ticketed' items. Plus there are police in front of the store to stop and line jumpers that wait in there car. It was still very crazy, as local law would not allow them to open until 5am. But, I was out of Wal-Mart by 5:45 with a car full of goodies. And there is always a family that comes around and gives out free hot coffee to the waiting line outside!

[KimberlySA]

I was at Walmart in a different state last year and it was great. We were allowed to put non big-ticket items in our carts and get in line. We weren't supposed to check out until 5am, but some brilliant person in front of me at self check out tried it, and it worked. We were out of there by around 4am.

[dullestbear]

The walmart that I went to i was able to get and purchase the sale items with the exception of the big ticket items which i did not want anyway. I had the paula deen cookware,the sewing maching the mini choppers , movies and jeans and checked out at 3,30 and was in penneys line at 400

[wjfan1]

If you go back to the Seasonal area, you will start seeing pallets on top with black wrap around them. Those are the black Friday items.

[AndreaInNC]

Our 24 hour Walmart started letting to buy things that were not the big ticket items before 5am. Ticked off alot of people because it wasn't announced. The Itouches were gone way before 5am. But it made sense - cause if you were in line for a big ticket item, how else were you suppose to get the rest of your shopping done? I was happy, but others were not.

[delphernina]

Our walmart does a fantastic job on black friday. I've gone to other Walmarts in other towns a couple of years when my walmart had said they wouldn't pricematch because we were too far away from the competitors ads, and realized real quick how differently other walmarts handle black friday. Our store is neat, organized, fair and well just plain friendly. Last year they brought back the pricematching and we stayed home to shop and I remembered how well they did. I'm really not sure if we will ever travel for black friday again - it will just depend on the ads. We may just stay home and price match what we can at Walmart. Since our local store does such a great job I'm hard pressed to spend my money elsewhere....

[RaineeDay1]

all store are different.. talking to a manager ahead of time is USELEEES unless its the store manager. The rest make up things.. they will NEVER allow you to get the big ticket items early.. be prepaired for masive crowds and do NOT carry cash or take your young children..

[jaymacfla]

The walmart that I went to i was able to get and purchase the sale items with the exception of the big ticket items which i did not want anyway. I had the paula deen cookware,the sewing maching the mini choppers , movies and jeans and checked out at 3,30 and was in penneys line at 400

How did that Paula Deen cookware turn out? The enamel ones stuck to glass cook-tops! The set I bought is ok, but the insides and bottoms are nasty, no matter what pre-soaking you gave them to remove the outer coating.(I did not get the enamel set because I have a cook-top.)

[arci122]

Our walmart was a tragedy waiting to happen......the ticket system worked great. The problem was most of the store was blocked off so there was traffic jams everywhere....you couldn't get carts through so you had to carry everything.....even after the mad rush at 5 am they wouldn't let you cross the ropes, so you got stuck throughout the store.....tell me that was OSHA approved.

[Tarmax4]

I hated the new WM strategy. It was SO unfair. I got there (Secaucus, NJ) to camp out at 10pm. They allowed you inside the store but they had all the merchandise covered in black bags so you didn’t know "what was what". They only uncovered/reveled what was underneath at the designated sale time (12am & 5am). The store was SO CROWDED with people sitting & walking around it was a complete hazard. So, I got there at 10pm & a person who JUST WALKED IN at 5am got the door buster I was camping out for because the store was too crowded for me to WALK OVER to grab it. If I knew it was in the next aisle under the black bags I would've been over there. As soon as I arrived I kept asking employees where were certain doorbusters located-NO ONE KNEW & No One helped!! It was CHAOS in there!!! This "black bag" strategy created more of anxious atmosphere which almost created a riot. YES, I said THE WORD……RIOT!!! One woman grab some door busters from under the "black bags" without anyone looking and basically sat with them until 5am; That was when she can legally purchase them at the register. Another customer saw her and started arguing with her. What Tha?? If anyone from Walmart Corporate is reading this I SUGGEST a ticket system for ALL ELECTRONICS and DO NOT let people camp out INSIDE the store ALL night!! Pass out tickets outside and let people inside the store 1 hour before they can actually purchase it. Let them line up at designated areas to pick up there items with the tickets. Letting people camp out INSIDE is too chaotic!! I saw people stealing stuff left & right despite undercover cops in there.

[ebasmommy]

We have 4 Wal-Marts in our area and only one opened the doors at 12 am. After waiting in line at the garden center of another Wal-Mart for 3 hours and being told they would not be opening those doors we left in search of a better Wal-Mart and happened to chose the one with the doors open. It was the BEST thing ever! We found where the tickets for the jeeps were being handed out (which changed three times, we were running all over the store) and got in line. Once there were more people in line than jeeps they handed out tickets. We then walked around the store and got all other non-ticketed items before getting in line at 3 am. At 5 pm we checked out and headed to Target. My friend was also able to go get in line for a DS ticket at the last moment when she got a call from her sister that she wasn't going to make it on time. I hope they do it like that again this year.

[PaulaJC]

My Walmart is also open 24 hours and they give us a map too. Hubby and I love going there on BF. They will put all the pallets in the aisles covered with brown paper. On the paper they will write what is underneath. I really like this set up so we arent zig zagging all over the store looking for items. We stand by the items we want and then at five oclock they announce over the speaker to go ahead and rip the paper off. Some of the electronics are on the pallets and some require tickets. Its a pretty well organized set up.

[davephillyj]

Paula, that's the way they did it at ours last year (so I heard) I stay away from Walmart ---since they do not release their sales in time for me to plan---I don't have the money and time to wait....

[Nate Dogg]

The confusion last year was with the way whe ad was worded. It said all day friday and saturday. Since all day starts at midnight some managers were afraid of false advertising and let you buy the stuff early, even though walmart clearly meant after 5:00. I imagine that little bug will have been fixed this year.

[jakesmommy403]

My Walmart is also open 24 hours and they give us a map too. Hubby and I love going there on BF. They will put all the pallets in the aisles covered with brown paper. On the paper they will write what is underneath. I really like this set up so we arent zig zagging all over the store looking for items. We stand by the items we want and then at five oclock they announce over the speaker to go ahead and rip the paper off. Some of the electronics are on the pallets and some require tickets. Its a pretty well organized set up.

That's how ours is, too. I really like that set-up. We just stand with our little carts by the stuff that we want and wait to rip the paper off. I'm never out on BF for electronics, so I probably do have an overall easier experience than some, but I have to say, once they say GO it takes us about 10 min to gather what we want, another 20 in the checkout and we're on our way to the next store!

[ericaj1]

That's how ours is, too. I really like that set-up. We just stand with our little carts by the stuff that we want and wait to rip the paper off. I'm never out on BF for electronics, so I probably do have an overall easier experience than some, but I have to say, once they say GO it takes us about 10 min to gather what we want, another 20 in the checkout and we're on our way to the next store!

Mandy! How are you??

[angel-too]

Last year my Walmart was ridiculous! They had an employee guarding every doorbuster, even the $3 pj's. They werent wrapped. You werent allowed to literally touch the pj's to check the sizes or character choices etc. If you were found doing so announcements were made that "you will be escorted from the store". For the bigger items I understand. I just wanted to check if I needed size 3T or 4T and the lady scolded me for touching them. LOL

[UtahHotDeals]

BigJim is right...Last year was new to Walmart. I work for Walmart and work with the planning for "The Event" as WM likes to call it now. Planning SHOULD (I say should because it's up to management) have begun in late September. Basically, most of you have mentioned it and hit it on the head:

 

24-Hour Stores will of course be open. You can wander around and buy anything except doorbusters. This year WM will have a sale that also starts at Midnight. You can pick up those items and buy them or just keep them in your cart. At 5am, the doorbusters will be released for sale. Doorbusters will be marked with giant numbered helium/mylar balloons. Each store SHOULD have maps telling customers what number belongs to what item. Customers will line up in the numbered line they choose and will be given wristbands and a number. That number will guarantee you a doorbuster item. Each doorbuster has a tight inventory count/associated with a wristband. So, there will only be wristbands given out for the exact number of items for that line. The lines should be spaced enough to avoid clumping in a certain area. TVs in the automotive bays (or garden center), computers in grocery, etc.

 

 

I'm not familiar with the planning for the non-24 hour stores, but I have heard they will open at 12:01am on Black Friday. That's all I am aware of on those stores.

 

Now I would talk (if at all possible to a store manager). Many store managers try to follow what is asked of them by corporate but some managers have their own take on certain instructions (which is why some stores seem to be chaotic and unorganized). I don't know why this occurs because there is a pretty well laid out plan for Black Friday and it's pretty self explanatory in my opinion. I think it just boils down to the fact some stores care more than other stores about how it goes down.

 

I think for the most part, the new system works when people know what's going on and management informs customers as well. With 8,400 stores and growing, I'm sure there are a few glitches in some areas.

[nebraskaparkfan]

This is the same system used at our store in nebraska. the stores across the river in iowa were a different set up and were a mad house. We were told at 3 a.m. which doorbuster was in which area. as far as the toys, we were standing by the big piles of toys that were not to be touched til 5 a.m. but we made "deals" with people on the other side of the piles to grab stuff for each other which was fun. I asked an associate by the clothing if I could just check a size before 5 a.m. on a jacket (I'm tall and wanted to make sure of the length) and she said it was ok. She watched to make sure I didn't put it into my cart and I thanked her for letting me do this. A little courtesy with sales associates goes a long way. Whenever someone asked an associate standing by an item first, it was always ok.