*** Official WHAT DID YOU GET? / YOUR EXPERIENCES Discussion Thread ***

[surfjump_tx]

Yeah, I went to Walmart in the DFW area at 4:45 and it was DEAD compared to other places. When I left at 5:30 they had about 80% of the cashiers just standing around. I had myself a good chuckle. :)

[mahalia52]

Same here at IN GA...

[money13]

Same here in Orange County Ca.

[co678]

Well lets see:

 

I woke up around 4:30(overslept) jammed down to frys which is about 25mi got down there in about 15 minutes(heh...)...About 2 people in line got in there and got @

 

Fry's:

 

2x Crucial 1GB DDR2 sticks for 24.99 -> 4.99AR

4x Airlink 101 PCI Super G Cards for $8ea

2x Airlink 101 Super G Laptop cards $8ea

3x Airlink 101 Super G Wireless routers $10ea

1x Airlink 101 Ethernet USB Adapter $10

2x Belkin Wireless USB adapters $12ea

4x Prime Power Strips .87cnts\ea

3x Emprex 1GB USB $10 -> FreeAR

1x Compaq Notebook / Intel Celeron Processor $300

4x GQ 100pk 16x DVD+R $20 -> $7AR

2x Jarbra BT2040 Bluetooth $6

3x GQ 50pk CD $6.99

2x LG 18X DVD Burner SATA

1x Hauppauge WINTV-HVR-950 HDTV TV Tuner USB Stick $60 -> $45AR

 

I got in around 5:05a and got in line about 7:00a and I swear there were about 200 people in front of me in line but from the back of the line to check out was ~30min thanks to all those check out stands, this fry's has 90(or maybe 70?) checkstands and they were all in full force so it went very smooth.

 

Mall:

 

Verizon Booth:

2x New Voyager Phones $300 on new 2yr

1x New LG Venus Phones $200 on a new 2yr

 

Other stores:

Clothes for wife ~$130

 

And so I did pretty well I ended up saving upwards of about $290-320 if I estimated correctly.

 

So all and all it was a wonderful BF for myself.

 

Hope you all had a great one too!

co678

Auburn, CA

[queenofshopping]

Went to BB Thursday night at 5:00pm. Was #65 in line. At 3:00 they starting handing out tickets. Then after all of the tickets were handed out, the first 100ish people got a personal shopping assistant. Employees came out and were assigned 3 people/famlies to get their orders. I gave him my list that was already made out, he filled out his order form, took the other two family's orders and went back in to pull our goods. They came back out about 4:40 and told us the order that we would check out, 4:50 we were taken inside. At the door, the PSA had to inform the door guy as to who was with him. Walking in, all of the rest of the BB workers stand around cheering for you. I felt like a celebrity! Anyhoo, they took us to the register that we were to check out in. My order was already rang up!! All I had to do was swipe my card and we left! I was out the door within a couple of minutes! Grabbed my 42" plasma from the large BB truck that they were storing them in (had to give my receipt) and headed to Staples.

 

that is so awesome!

[outnumbered]

Not a big haul this year, but there wasn't much I was dying to get and my budget was low, so, all in all I think it worked out well enough.

 

4 am: arrived at JCP. Got snowglobe (for my sister who was watching my kids), booked it out of the store and went to the KB Toys line. Was tenth! Totally didn't expect to be so close.

 

5 am: KB Toys opened. They let EVERYONE in at once, saying they'd only limit the # of people inside if the fire marshal told them to. I walked in, grabbed the Roboreptile for $40, got the big Magnetix case for $40, got two gameboy advance games (buy 1 get 1 free), and the Monopoly game ($2 after rebate, still dirt cheap before rebate). Waited maybe 5 min in line and left.

 

5:30ish? Dropped bags off at car, returned to mall. Stopped in at Old Navy briefly. Found sweater I liked, saw that sweater was only $5 off regular price, saw 100-person-long line...ditched sweater. Went to Sears. Spent an ungodly amount of time looking around in there because I hadn't had a chance to look over the ad on here, and it wasn't in my paper!! Grrr. But got a bunch of gifts for people, used my $25 gift card from mypoints, used my $10 off coupon with Sears card purchase, etc., got good deals overall.

 

7:30ish? Went to Starbucks for the morning coffee I didn't get before heading out. Good LORD that line was slow. But I had to have that coffee to continue.

 

8:15: Finally had my coffee and breakfast wrap. Drove to Target in search of Roboraptor. They were out but some guy said they had them at Big 5. Left Target, went to Big 5. Found a different Roboreptile (same item as the one I got at KB Toys, different color, $10 more). Decided it was worth the $10 extra to get it in green, DS#2's favorite color, and DS#1 would get the other one, and there'd be no fighting over who got the cool remote control dinosaur. Paid for Roboreptile. Received sales pitch on Roboreptile from a clerk standing next to the clerk helping me (yeah, AFTER I was paying for it, lol).

 

9ish?? Went to Kohl's. Viewed 400-person-long line at Kohl's. Left Kohl's.

 

Went to Lakeshore Learning so my other sister could use some coupons she had. They didn't appear to have anything on sale so I just got a couple cheap stocking stuffer items.

 

10ish: returned to my parents' house and napped!

 

I'm almost completely done shopping, so I think it was time well spent. And the Roboreptiles are totally going to be the hit of Christmas this year with my boys, and I definitely couldn't have afforded them at $90-100 each, so I'm happy with that deal. I really wasn't impressed with the deals on much else, but...oh well. The upside was I was at a GREAT place to shop. I have never seen a mall that NOT crowded on BF. I'll have to spend every Thanksgiving at my parents' new place, lol.

[willowlane]

I got in line at Kohls about 3:45, the line was clear out through the parking lot and they were still coming. My husband and I went dashing for 4 King Size MicroPlush blankets, we were also looking for the down alternative, but they never came in....imagine that!

Then we hit RadioShack and BBW. I was home by 8:30 this morning, my earliest year yet!

[Paka]

Was a pretty good experience, for my first time doing this! We checked out the group of stores I decided on, with a TRU, BB, ect. at about 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving; for those from the area, the ones off ex. 279 of I-75 in Wesley Chapel north of Tampa, in Pasco Co. Because of a bunch of construction, it was actually a little tough to figure out how to get to the stores to begin with. BB had about 20-30 campers I'd estimate, with nobody at TRU. In addition to being only about 10-15 min. from where we were staying, I figured they might be less crowded than the ones in Tampa itself.

 

Well, leave at 4 and when we got there... Line at BB was unlike anything I'd ever seen, lol. TRU had a big one too, but not so bad, and I think we ended up at around #150 or so in it (bad at estimating #s of people, but that would be my guess). They came around and gave out snacks and OJ, which was nice. By the time they opened, we were about halfway in the line, with all the late arrivals. I couldn't see BB's line at that point, which was wrapped around anyways, but it had to be at least double TRU's I'd guess.

 

Luckily, the crowd was VERY nice and calm, and even in the store there were no shows of aggression that I saw. I went directly over to the video games area, grabbed what I wanted then got in line there quickly so I could get the main thing I was there for, the gold limited edition Zelda DS bundle.

 

I was out of the store by about 5:30, and wanted to go to BB, but the line was still quite long just to get in. We were tired, so decided against it, so headed back for some .

[lovebears65]

Pensacola reporting.. We got at best buy at 5am thanksgiving day. The crowds were nothing like last year but they were disorginazed. One TV we wanted they didnt have it in stock:mad: They wanted to order it make us pay shipping and ship it to jax. I told them no and the lost out on the sell. But I did get 2 sony lap tops, 2 tom tom gps, 387 computer for my son , 2 digital camera with digital frames. gaming chair, and assorted games . I got a PS3 for my sister in law in Pittsburgh and a gps system and we mailed out to her today and is expecting a big check.. well got the check today from mom they deposit money in her account.. We had a couple fights, an arrest and a bunch of drunkies who thought the line started at the front end at the exit.. I dont think so I didnt sit out there for hours on end for you to cut.. I got interviewed by the news since we come over ever year from georgia I was on tv but they cut the talking part. Lady in the green had with windblown face we are tired and I really dont think we will do best buy next year. We have done them every year and this year really was bad with the fights. I Think we might target next year:razz:

[zman2]

Ditto, Houston, TX

[pottsie66]

My local WM was sold out of several items. They said they had been very busy all morning and it was just starting to slow down a little. That was about 7:30 a.m.

[smorebore]

Wack A Mole tower- $20

Link's crossbow trainer- 19.99

 

and a lot of FUN shopping........

 

Gone All Day.....Thanks to my husband who stood in line for hours for me hile I shopped!!!

[randiecipper]

here in placerville, just came back with my $29.99 upconvert DVD player, an they stil had about 25 of them left at 5:30...store looked busy, but still could pick up most of the electronic (5 big TVs left, 7 Compaq computers) stuff...

[maxtheman]

best buy

 

Hitatchi dvd camcorder

toshiba 229 laptop

tom tom one le

house season two

blank media

sold my tickets and got 150 bucks

 

raido shack

 

wireless mouse

raidar pitch baseball

 

dell.com

zune 30gb 96

[smorebore]

Went to Warren, OH store at about 2:00pm. Found several things that Target and TRU sold out of early. Wonder what it was like in the early AM???/

[meyou]

I stopped in my local walmart and they had alot of the doorbusters left.

[EYGLE]

Here in Upper Michigan Walmart was not the busiest store either. Menards Kohls and Shopko had them beat. I went thru the express line with no waiting.

[daworths8]

Walmart

 

Got dvd player & case & dvd

6 track suits (4 girls, 2 boys.....4 @ BF price 2 NOT...stay tunes for why & what I did)

6 pajamas (3 @ BF price, 3 NOT...stay tuned for why)

Littlest pet shop whirl around whatever

 

 

Our Walmart DID NOT HAVE half of anything in their ad.

The $5 pajama sets only had the 12m-5T size suppose to have them thru size 10.

Did not have the $7 baby blanket sleepers.

Did not have the boys track suits, I ended up grabbing 2 of the 3 piece suits ($14.98) with same brand, but not the ones advertised and had them fix them at the register for the $8. HA

Did not have the Mens sports sweatshirts.

No 2' bratz what so ever.

 

I passed by numerous ticked off people fussing about not having things they were looking for.

 

 

I got there at 4:30 I was back home by 6:30. Had my items within 20 minutes I believe rest of the time I was walking around in a daze of disbelief that people cant seem to get their $hit together.

 

 

I went back to Walmart later this evening (7pm) to pick up my developed pics. The SOB's had all these missing things I listed above out on the floor fully stacked. I had already spent my BF budget..............that was just wrong wrong wrong :no::no:

[Marcster]

Best Buy (online):

2 - TomTom One LEs @ $119 each plus tax (free ship)

4 - Seagate 320GB hard drives @ $59.98 each, plus $10 for ship/tax (yes, that's right, 4 drives -- going to build a new tower with RAID 5)

With the pressure off, we slept in till 5:45 am.

 

1st stop ~ 6:40 am ~ Dunkin Donuts:

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Coffee/millan_donutcoffee.gif

 

2nd stop ~ 6:55 am ~ Inkstop: (yeah, Inkstop!!! Who woulda thunk?)

2 GB Kingston SD Card - $9.99

2 GB Kingston Flash Drive -- (I have a strange addiction to flash drives, this is #10) http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Hmmm/crazyfool.gif

In and out with no problems, my wife stayed in the car with the engine running. Inkstop opened at 4:30 am and still had all of their doorbusters (that I saw anyway). They had tons of employees -- I didn't even look for the two things I bought, I just asked one of the employees.

 

3rd stop ~ 7:15 am ~ Staples:

Lap Desk - $19.99

2 packs of LightScribe DVDs - $12.98 each

7" Digital Photo Frame - $49.98 (totally unplanned, but I figured this would be good because I rarely get my photos printed.)

Our line was soooooooo slow. It took an hour to checkout. http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Rude/raspa.gif

 

4th stop ~ 8:35 am ~ Home Depot:

2 toolchests - $5 each

2 pliers/wrench combo sets - $10 each

2 Ryobi Drill/Driver 115 piece sets - $15 each

1 Skill circular saw - $29

1 pack of 36-count Energizer batteries AA-size (not a special, but I needed them and $12.98 seemed like a good deal)

Home Depot had it together -- it may have helped that it was a little later in the day, but they had employees AT THE ENTRANCE grabbing you as you came in to ask which doorbusters you were after. VERY NICE! It really sped things up!!!

 

Hats off to the Wyomissing Home Depot! http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Happy/clap.gif

 

 

5th stop ~ 9:20 am ~ Bed Bath and Beyond:

-- we looked at dishes, but didn't buy any. My wife bought jewelry cleaning solution.

 

They were doing 8 oz sample cups of some fancy pods-style coffee maker. I got a cup and walked around with my wife. As we rounded the store, the three college-age kids who were getting their coffee at the same time I was were sitting in the massage chairs sipping their coffee!!!

 

I said to them, "Free coffee and a free massage, what more do you need?" It was hilarious! http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/LOL/laugh3.gif

 

 

6th stop ~ 10:00 am ~ VF Outlet Village (http://www.vfovillage.com):

No super crazy deals, just a normal visit to the outlets. Bass Outlet was having a nice sale - I got a "dressier" fall jacket and two casual shirts for $56.

 

All in all, I must be livin' right, 'cause we got everything I was after -- including things at Home Depot and the outlets I wasn't even planning on.

 

Yes, TRU was a nightmare here in Wyomissing, PA. Not a parking spot to be found in the entire strip mall parking lot (which is huge). Line wrapped around the side of the building so far you couldn't see the end. When 5am came and the doors opened, people arriving right at 5am didn't realize what the line was for and just started walking towards the door. The police showed up just in time! Once inside, I didn't see any fights or people grabbing items from each other, but carts were hard to find.

I heard from a friend of a friend that who went to the Wyomissing TRU that there were fistfights!!! She was at the Wyomissing Old Navy for their opening and people were yelling and swearing at eachother since not everyone could get one of the free MP3 players.

[HAnderson]

We went to walmart tonight to look for a none BF item and was surprised that they had nearly all of there BF items at 830 at night. Maybe they will have better sales next year since this years stunk so bad.

[o_arlene]

anyone notice if they still have the 24 series??

[6digmans]

Seems that all us so called "Cherry pickers" went and picked what we wanted and then went to the places that had a good ad and who we seemed happy to hand over our money to. I know I only picked up a SD card and 2 packages of PJ's. That is all I then went to make all the rest of my big items at the rest of the stores. they only got 20$ out of me!

[reynog]

This was my first year doing ANY bf shopping, online or otherwise... I am so grateful to this site and forums. I know people are saying the deals aren't that great this year, but I am extremely happy with all the stuff I got.

 

Target - bought Wed afternoon, PA'ed Fri morning:

Kodak MD853 - $89

The Office Seasons 1 & 2 - $9.98/$14.98

 

Dell.com - Wednesday night

Buffalo LinkStation Live 500GB - $219.99

 

Sears.com - Woke up at 5am Fri and checked out items already in my cart:

iDeal pak Accessory Kit for iPod - $19.99

Coby Super Slim DVD Player - $9.99

SanDisk SD Card 1GB - $9.99

Coby 1.5 in. Digital Photo Keychain (x2) - $12.99

Cuisinart Grind and Brew Drip Coffee Maker - $34.99

 

Walmart.com - 5:15 am Fri

Kodak 2 GB SD Memory Card - $12.88

 

Left the house at 6:45am, straight to Office Max and got the:

OfficeMax 10-Sheet Diamond-Cut Shredder - $29.99

(OfficeMax had a good sized line but the checkout line was organized and moved quickly... good experience)

 

Wandered to Linens n Things because it was next door, didn't buy anything, but the crowds were light and it was easy to browse around.

 

Then headed to Target, got my price adjustments and:

Shop Vac HangUp Mini - $19

The Pursuit of Happyness DVD - cheap ($5-$6?)

 

At various points in the afternoon today, I also got:

DeepDiscount.com: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S1, Boston Legal S1 & S2 - $61.87 total with 20% discount

Amazon.com: Flight of the Conchords S1 - $14.99

Amazon.com: MS Office 2004 for Mac - $24.99 after $100 MIR

OldNavy.com: 2 jeans - $14.75 ea

 

Also hoping to pick up the Planet Earth DVD set at Discovery Store online on Monday for a discount.

[bayhaysay]

Walmart was my next to last stop this morning (had to run back to the mall after I thought I was through). We were there at around 10:00 am and I seen most of the doorbusters still available also. The only thing I really wanted in there was a couple of the $3.98 mini choppers (they really do work, lol) and that was the one doorbuster I didn't see.

[nick_jenni_jocelyn]

I went to my local WM in Alabaster, AL. At 2pm, they still had several of the TV's AND desktops. I did see one laptop, hiding on the counter behind the electronics dept. desk. I almost asked to see it, but i am sure they would have told me it was "sold", lol.

 

The only things i asked about that they were sold out of was the Sony cybershot camera and the camcorder.

[ctxx24]

I got my tomtom Le 119 bestbuy.com

 

Went to walmart 6:00 got a dvd player and a few dvds and some toilet paper

 

Got to Circuitcity 6:30 (Where my wife works) To see one of there sliding doors cracked and off the track. She told me when people found out they only had 1 yes 1 laptop people got pissed throwing things and stuff. She also told me there was a older man 70ish about 10th or so in line got trampled over once the doors open. no one could even help him up, i guess they where jumping over him. Thats just sad:mad: Anyway got what i wanted

[mommy2bugs]

Walmart was my next to last stop this morning (had to run back to the mall after I thought I was through). We were there at around 10:00 am and I seen most of the doorbusters still available also. The only thing I really wanted in there was a couple of the $3.98 mini choppers (they really do work, lol) and that was the one doorbuster I didn't see.

Albert Pike or Central?

 

There were tons left at Albert Pike when I spoke to a friend at 9:45

[dsaman]

I bought napkins and a $5 barbie at mine. ROFL

 

They were out of the portable DVD player that I was going to pick up as a back up, but that was also at 10:30am...I kind of expected it to be gone. They didn't get much from me this year either!

[newmom517]

Left the house at 7:45AM

 

 

8:15am- Got to mall and luckily found a partking spot right away. First stop was KBToys and I got 3 fisher price toys which were buy 2 get one free...a rubix revolutions?? for 12.99.

 

Then Gamespot- 3 games....2 xbox and one wii game....buy 2 get one free

 

11:30am- Walmart - They had nothing left...so we got a few shirts for dh and some other little things

 

Target-also had ....Nothing

 

 

So went home and searched online for a Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii...I couldnt find it anywhere except backordered on gamespot...so I gave up

 

 

8:30pm- Found out that the walmart near my in laws house had one in the back ....so they held it for us and we dropped off our baby at our in laws and went to walmart...and luckily got the last one!!

 

 

Overall...was a great day...I had fun reading the posts on here throughout the day too :)

[bayhaysay]

Albert Pike or Central?

 

There were tons left at Albert Pike when I spoke to a friend at 9:45

Darn it, I was at Central. I did call my MIL who was in the Albert Pike WM and she didn't see any...she apparently didn't look in the right place, oh well.