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Best Buy/Circuit City --- 50 people in line by 11PM

RossMAN

By RossMAN
in 2005

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RossMAN

RossMAN

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Pre-BF preparations: Ate dinner by 5PM, slept for 3 hours and showered around 10PM.

 

Best Buy - 11:00 PM Pacific there were already 50 people in line and a minimum of 10 laptops per store. We gave up.

 

Circuit City - 11:20 PM Pacific after discovering Krispy Kreme closes at 11:00 PM we staked our place in line about 30th in line. This very nervous/anxious woman was KICKING HERSELF for watching NBC's "The Apprentice" and not going there sooner. Of course there were no free or unsecured WiFi networks available so the laptop was useless. After waiting about 30 minutes in our foldable chairs my curiosity got to me. So I went to the front "campire" group of 20 people asking who's in line for the laptop? They replied in unisom "We are! There's 25 to 30 people waiting for 15 laptops". I told the nervous chatty woman good luck and we returned to the car. People started lining up around 8PM, the first person was there at 6PM.

 

CompUSA - 11:59 PM Pacifc they opened, but the neon sign outdoor sign wasn't on? I'm not sure how many people were in line because they all rushed into the store. The parking lot was almost full and there were at least 70 cars. I couldn't see anything in the store that caught my eye so we just window shopped. The beautiful HP Pavilion DV4000 laptop had internet access so I changed it's homepage to Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com

 

So now we're back in our dry and comfortable home, wide awake and without a laptop. Now I gotta find a way to spend $265 BBB before December 3, 2005. Fun fun fun!

 

Lessons for Black Friday 2006:

  • Get there between 6:00 - 7:00 PM
  • Bring foldable chairs again
  • Bring gloves and umbrella's
  • Take no prisoners!!!
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MrsHoneybee

MrsHoneybee

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Yes but only after the stores open in 4 hours. We only really wanted the SanDisk MP3 Player.

I'd never been out there so early for a sale...but it was interesting to see the craziness of the people..at Best Buy I saw a HUGE luxurious campervan/mobile home pull into the parking lot while standing in line.

 

I was looking forward to getting that MP3 Player at BB and still hope to get one maybe....otherwise my CD/radio player still works perfectly well. :)

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Guest noitammus

Guest noitammus

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Well, at least you didn't freeze your toes off for 4.5 hours like I just did. Was 11th person in line and waited outside the entire time in 18 degree weather for the 15 CC Toshiba laptops.

 

Thing that gets to me though was this family of 5 sitting outside the door in a van. I can understand people relieving each other (which I could have done, but I brought along and friend and we "toughed" it out) but waiting in a van the *entire* time just doesn't seem to count do me. I had no idea so many people were in the van. Bringing your 5 year old kid so you can profit on ebay for 200 bucks.... bleh. A lot of respect to the 6 or 7 or so others who waited the entire time outside. They certainly deserve the lappies.

 

Hope everyone else gets what they want though.

 

Oh I might add, my CompUSA was a total melee!! The orderly line just collasped when the store opened, probably 400+ people, and I strolled in and window shopped after the line subsided. Surprised nobody got seriously hurt. The entire store was completely packed, and I saw someone sitting another person's shoulders and knocking the cheap hard drives to the crowds. I got the image that this was famine season, and the hard drives were loaves of bread.. Felt like I was in a movie :)

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RossMAN

RossMAN

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noitammus,

 

You know what pissed me off?

 

People "holding a space" for 3-4 of their friends, WTF? I can understand relieving each other for bathroom breaks, a coffee run or something like that.

 

I wish there was some "BF code of ethics" that people adhered to, of course I'm just dreaming now.

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Guest noitammus

Guest noitammus

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I didn't see any "space holding" going on, but it occured to me that waiting inside a car the entire time is almost the exact same thing.

 

I am sure many will disagree with me.. but you people don't have souls.

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Synergy

Synergy

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My first BF experience was pretty awful, actually. My sister and I got to CC around 10pm to try and get the Toshiba laptop deal, no one was there, so we stayed in the warm car until 3 people showed up at 11pm. We got out our camping chairs and staked our spot as 4th and 5th in line. For the next 5 hours we absolutely froze our butts off. Wind chill temp was 16 degrees, and it felt colder than that.

 

As the night wore on, people started randomly showing up for "saved spots" in line. Naturally people started to get pissed off and rowdy. Then when the CC employees started showing up, everyone basically flattened me and my sister against the glass. The first 10 people or so in line were nice, and mostly honest, so when it came time to hand out vouchers, we got ours.

 

Once inside, it was a freakin madhouse, and get this - the AOL sign ups were not working. So we have to go back tomorrow to get our $250 cash back on the Toshiba laptops (the last place on earth I want to see right now is CC).

 

I'm glad I got the laptop, as is my sister, but we paid a price with our fingers, toes, and sanity. Hats off to you repeat hardcore BF'ers. I can safely say it was the worst, most freezing night of my life and I'll be in bed next year!

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Mommie2one

Mommie2one

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Before going to Walmart last night or should I say earlier this morning at 2am, I passed BB. The line was literally 100++ people at 1:30am. After leaving Walmart, I passed Target on the way home. It was 5:15am by this time and I would say 15-20 people ONLY were in line. Parking lot was empty
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grapico

grapico

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first person here in line was there at 5:45, i got there at 10:30 and did not get a laptop, thelast person here to get a laptop got in line at 9:30... only 15, and 15 desktops, 27 kodak cameras... thats all i can say now... walmart might have some you can pricematch... good luck. it was over 100 people at 1am, easy. the aol signups also down here, i have to go back in a few... i am very mad at how circuit city handled it, let people cut in line in front of people who have been there 10 hours+, one customer called the cops, very very disorderly, i will not be doing circuit city again for BF. lucky you got the laptop, i never had a prayer.
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Guest Frieked

Guest Frieked

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Yes but only after the stores open in 4 hours. We only really wanted the SanDisk MP3 Player.

I stopped at BB on my way to work this morning just to look around... It was around 9am, they had hundreds of these still available right where you walk in.
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Gporter34

Gporter34

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I can honestly say that the rules completely changed this year for BF shopping. I have been going every year for at least 9 or 10 years. Last year we got to WM at 3am and were just about the only people in the store. This year I got there about 6 or 6:30pm on Thursday and people started lining up behind me.lol I have NEVER seen BF like this. I have seen fist fights, hair pulling(usually followed by fist fights, lol), and all sorts of things but people this year were out for BLOOD! I will now be ready for next year even though we still did great this year. Ross, I am so sorry you didn't get your latop. You would think you would have had a shot. I tell ya, this year was a whole new game.
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RossMAN

RossMAN

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Ross, I am so sorry you didn't get your latop. You would think you would have had a shot. I tell ya, this year was a whole new game.

I think you're right, things have changed.

 

A few years ago if you got in line at 11PM, you were almost guaranteed to be the first person in line. This year that all changed, you'd be #51 in line.

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grapico

grapico

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I stopped at BB on my way to work this morning just to look around... It was around 9am, they had hundreds of these still available right where you walk in.

yep i went there at 10 and still had 100s i think they got 500 per store.

 

the laptop at the store not allowed here... is decent, and for 349, no aol. almost the same specs as the best buy minus wireless card and has a 14" widescreen which i like better, also you get a free printer.

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Guest Frieked

Guest Frieked

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I think you're right, things have changed.

 

A few years ago if you got in line at 11PM, you were almost guaranteed to be the first person in line. This year that all changed, you'd be #51 in line.

Does it kinda make you wanna kick yourself a little for bringing all the hype to black friday? How many of those 50 people in front of you do you think heard about some of these deals through the Gottadeal grapevine? I bet a lot... maybe not directly but you guys were the first to have most of the ads and word spread quickly about them via various news sources.

 

It's probably worth it though :)

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grapico

grapico

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Does it kinda make you wanna kick yourself a little for bringing all the hype to black friday? How many of those 50 people in front of you do you think heard about some of these deals through the Gottadeal grapevine? I bet a lot... maybe not directly but you guys were the first to have most of the ads and word spread quickly about them via various news sources.

 

It's probably worth it though :)

i talked to half the people in front of me the 7 hours before and only one had seen the leaked ads... i think it was the insane deals on laptops... atleast at circuit city for the 200 dollar one that got people there so early, and also the stores opened an hour earlier than usual this year, will it be 4am next year? or all open at midnight like compusa?

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Gporter34

Gporter34

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Well, I hope I get some new referrals.lol I talked all night to people about this site, they were looking for employees to ask questions and I said, "Maybe I can help." They wanted to know how I was so prepared so early and I told them all about the site and that we got to see the ads first and all of the info we get here. They were all writing down GottaDeal.com.lol
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shoplifter

shoplifter

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I overslept. I wanted to drive-by BB at 4:00, an hour before they opened, just to see the crowd. I got there at 4:45, there must have been 1500 people in line. It wrapped 3/4 of the way around the store. The news said people were lining up last nite at 10:30. Staples is a few minutes away, they weren't going to open for an hour and 15 minutes, but there must have been 50 people there. The low last nite/this morning was about 15 degrees. I drove home.

 

Congrats to those that stuck it out and got what they wanted without screwing any one over.

 

Happy Holidays

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angel-too

angel-too

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My first BF experience was pretty awful, actually. My sister and I got to CC around 10pm to try and get the Toshiba laptop deal, no one was there, so we stayed in the warm car until 3 people showed up at 11pm. We got out our camping chairs and staked our spot as 4th and 5th in line. For the next 5 hours we absolutely froze our butts off. Wind chill temp was 16 degrees, and it felt colder than that.

I'm glad I got the laptop, as is my sister, but we paid a price with our fingers, toes, and sanity. Hats off to you repeat hardcore BF'ers. I can safely say it was the worst, most freezing night of my life and I'll be in bed next year!

I don't know what it will be like in the future, But BF '05 was unbearably cold. It's never been like this for me before. Don't let this year disscourage you.

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