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

[davephillyj]

Our WM was blasted for the first hour. Then DEAD

 

Hope they LEARN from their mistakes.

[jtolli]

Sears

Panasonic 56" Widescreen LIFI 1080p HDTV $1,199.99 (bought Saturday before BF, got price adjustment on BF)

Accutire Digital Air Pressure Gauge $9.99 (ordered on-line)

Casio Exilim 7.2 Megapixel Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom $139.99 (ordered on-line)

Craftsman 1000-Watt Quartz Halogen Work Light with Tripod $19.99 (bought Saturday before BF at BF price)

Craftsman 2-Gallon Wet/Dry Vacuum $14.99

Dorcy 19-LED Aluminum Flashlight $9.99

George Foreman Grill $49.99 (bought Saturday before BF at BF price)

 

Military Exchange

AAFES

Compaq AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 15.4" Laptop w/ 1GB, 120GB, DVD Burner $399.00

 

Amazon.com

Toshiba HD-A3 High Definition HD-DVD Player w/10 Free DVDs $199.99

 

Best Buy - PNY-Optima 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 DIMM Memory-D1GX53OPT $36.74 (w/shipping and tax, bought on-line)

 

Target

Queen Size Air Matress with Rechargable Pump - $19.99

 

HH GREGG

JVC Mini DV Camcorders (bought 2 before BF) $359.94 (total)

[tiredmom214]

This has the worst black friday yet for me. I got a call from my mil at 3:45 that my son was throwing up. She told me to go ahead and go so that I could still get the kids Christmas stuff(we are on a super tight budget). I went ahead to Walmart and just before they pulled off the black wrap from the doorbusters I began to get sick too. By the time I got back from the bathroom most of what I came for was gone. I had left in such a hurry trying to get back to my son that I left my ads at home so I couldn't pm anything. I flew to TRU to get a price adjustment on the stuff I had already brought. The lady at costumer service said they wouldn't do it until after 8. This information had not been told to me in any of the 3 calls I made regarding the subject the previous week. Well we only have one car and my dh had to be at work at 7:30. So no price adjustment either. So I left and got my kids and came home. We spend all of black friday on the couch sick as dogs. I am so disappointed, I needed to be able to get everything super cheap because I Only have 150 to spend for Christmas TOTAL. It looks like we got food poisoning from Thanksgiving, turns out alot of us were sick and we all ate a particular batch of deviled eggs. Food poisoning from Thanksgiving...who would have thought.

[hannahs_momma]

I was so happy I went today although it was bad with the amount of people but the store I went to still had pallets of some of the doorbusters!

[loves30]

i have been here for some time reading . i have always done bf, but i have never slept out . had no intrest in it either. but for some reason i got the urge thursday morn. at 1030.after i had been out since 8 am. and up all night the night before on the lap top. i myself am on a budget and i have three boys. so i was 17 and 18 in line at bestbuy, by 1030 am thursday. well by 5 pm a group of people came and started a rucus. well im only 4 11 high but i have a big mouth. so there were a few people after me . the group left and i became the worden of the order.. lol (mind u first time i ever slept out) but after reading this sight i learned alot,makes friends, look out for others, and just always be kind. so i did get what i wanted but most of all i got forothers and made sure that others in line got what they could till it was out of my hands . they all thanked me and told me they want to do this next yr with me. lol i did miss out with my family on thursday. but for hte past 18 yrs i have always done for everyone else and made sure since my mom passed they still had there holiday. and well i told my hubby that this yr i need to do for me and my family( my kids) and if they could not understand this then i wont do thanksgiving anymore someone else could.. well next thing i new my sister and her girlfriend and my other sister were there brining me a tent ( i requested) due to it was raining now. and they made me go home with one of my sisters for dinner and to see the kids and my neice.. and well they made me sit down had my plate ready and we always always havea great time at the dinner table (food fight not to messy tho) well they all picked up biscuts or corn and threw them at me due to i missed the other one ... ( then i new they understood and loved me )i want to say thank you to all of you and i want to wish you all a happy and healthy one.. ohh ya the people in line (new friends) all put there name and number in my phone with the initals bb next to it lol so we will all be there next .. lol love it. one more thing .. a special thanks to brad and all of you that have posted on here. u made my holiday and kids very happy. which makes me happy .... thanks again lor

[kubla77]

Circuit City is the worst on BF. They seriously need to learn from Best Buy. We went to BB at opening and got out in 45 minutes. We went to CC at 6, and it took 2 hours and 45 minutes! and all we got were a few blank CDs and flash drives!

 

Best Buy has ONE line for check-out. It works very smoothly, it is VERY clear where that line starts and ends. One BB employee actually holds a balloon to show you where the end of the line is, and my BB blocks off the line with merchandise so people cannot jump in and out of line. CC has multiple lines with no clear end to the line. One line I stood in moved 4 people in an hour because they had one register and the girl at the register was manually entering the UPC codes.

 

It doesn't help that my CC has a 250 customer limit so when we got there at 6, we had to wait in line for 40 minutes and when we left at 8:45 a.m., there was STILL a line!

[Yakyma]

THere were a total of 8 in my group shopping...lol

We split into 3 groups, Sent 2 people to Ciruit City...they were looking at a cannon camera, not a door buster item, but a good deal, and they got some dvd season series. They got in line at 2:30a.m....line was already around the back of building. They were still offered and could have gotten a couple of the tv's or the 599.00 (I think) computer. Sent 3 people to Target with a list and 3 of us went to WalMart. I was in the WalMart goup...lol

dd was picking up toys, I got the cannon camera for dd, personal dvd players and cases, digital picture frame, someone else I know came in just before 5 a.m and wanted one of the dvd players that I was standing by, so told her I would get one for her if she went to jewelry counter and got 48.xx 1/4 carat diamond earrings, deal made and last deal McDonalds manager from inside the store wanted one of the dvd players also, told her I would get hers for a free sausage biscuit...she sent someone back and delivered it to me in line waiting for them to cut the paper lol....free breakfast...grabbed stuff, met dd and her mother in law and switched out stuff headed for register and out of there by 5:20a.m.

Met other dd at target about 35 minutes away she was waiting by registers with things I wanted, digital art center 34.99, a couple of timex watches 12.99, a few dvds, got in line there checked out by 6:20a.m., went to Home Depot grabbed outdoor patio heater for 99.00, headed for the mall, the 2 who had been at circuit city had the stuff we were looking for at Sears, checked out, headed to Penney's, magic bullet 59.99 then 10.00 off. One in the group picked up a comforter set suppose to be 89.00 on sale when she checked out it wouldn't scan right number came up but not the price...another lady said oh it is 19.99 so they sold her that 12 piece set for 19.99...lol

Went to Penneys picked up a couple of the leather jackets, some mens shirts, a few other knick Knack items, Steve and Barry's 20.00 pea coat for dd. Went back to Sears, grabbed a pair of ruby and diamond hoops for other dd, got another 10.00 off 59.99 sale price...left Mall headed for another shopping center, Old Navy, a couple of fleece pull overs, fleece pullovers for grandkids, and thermal shirt 8.00, then bed bath and beyond nothing special in there, lunch at Chili's then to Belks, got granddaughter a dress for 20.00 reg. 50., a few more sweatshirts, 9.99 reg.32.00, then hit a Lowes picked up a nail gun /compressor thing...for 49.00. Headed home unloaded everything it was about 4:00 in the afternoon. Oh we did try to go to Kohls, but walked in and saw the horrible long lines waiting to check out and said no way and left.

[mello]

I talked to my friend who was in line at TRU on BF (she was 10th in line). When the doors opened, the first 2 guys RAN and I mean RAN back to the display of the Zunes. They had said they had over 25 of them. The two men shoved the 3rd person out of the way and picked up the whole display and brought it to the checkout inside the game department. People were yelling and demanding a manager. Manager comes up and said he was sorry, but no limits posted so they had the right to purchase any amount.... Heres where it gets horrible....

 

The one guy took one of the zunes and lifted it in the air. He yelled to everyone "These will be on eBay in a half hour- you can buy them then!". How ridiculous is that??!!! I swear I would have beat down those two. How rude.

 

BUT, due to other sales on Zunes listed here, she went online and paid $90 and free shipping. Thankfully I was on yesterday and was able to tell her about them.

That's just sick and wrong.

I'm SO done with ebay, it has become nothing but a huge greed-fest.

 

Dh stopped by CompUSA on his way home from work Thanksgiving night - got there about 2 minutes past 9 (they were open from 9-12pm). He was only looking for a couple SD memory cards, so figured there'd be no problem, but the sales associates said 1 guy had just bought them ALL. Now you know those are on ebay.

 

I know it's free-enterprise and all, but here's the thing; once dh (and others) found out the things they were looking for were gone in the first minute, they all turned around and left the store, didn't take the time to look around and see what else was there at all, so a lot of good these loss-leaders are really doing the company when one person's allowed to buy everything out immediately. Why don't they get a clue and put some limits on things??? Truly, after getting beat out by ebayers time after time over the last couple years, dh and I made the decision not to even get up and go out for BF this year. We got everything we wanted online, and slept in on Friday!

[nikkilugi]

Just went to a different Target and picked up the Airport Lego set that I passed by yesterday. That Target had so much stuff still left. They had TONS of 10'' portable dvd players. I already have one or I would have bought another, LOL.

 

I also went to Old Navy and got a couple of shirts for my hubby.

 

Then went to Hallmark and bought $25 of Yankee Candles and got me free little jar. Also bought 3 cards and got the cutest Rudolf plush that plays music and his nose lights up. It was $9.99 with a 3 card purchase.

[deljack27]

After being on this site for a while I was expecting the worst. But it turned out to be a really good experience. The outlet mall opened at 12 and it was really crowded. I shopped and then went and ate to pass the time.

At 4:50 I went to Walmart and was surprised cause it wasn't even crowded. It took me about 20 min. to shop.

Went to Radio Shack and they only had about 10 people line but the checkout process was a little slow. Staples is also in the same area and I could see that they only had about 20 people in their line.

After that I went to the mall. I think I missed the big rush cause it wasn't bad there either. Then went to Target and got most of what I wanted. The guy told me that the truck was going to be restocking on Sat.

My last stop was Steve and Barry's. Some of their jeans were only $9 and they also had coats on sale.

Overall it was a great day. I will definitely be out there next year.

[msl94]

Was anyone at the Jackson Outlet Center on BF? My wife and I noticed a traffic jam on I-195 about 1/4 mile from the exit around 11:30pm and it seemed as if no one was moving. Unfortunately, we turned around and went to KB Toys which opened at midnight.

[chilimak]

I only went to wal mart BF morning, but went to the mall and TRU that afternoon/evening. Everything went great. Got what I wanted at wal mart, the portable DVD player and accessory kit, and the digital picture frames. Also got cheap games for the kids and cheap dvd's. At TRU, I returned 2 items for a $57. store credit. With all the coupons/certificates I had, I got $116. worth of stuff for only $33. in real money. Not bad I thought. I also am almost done shopping for my kids. I only need a couple more things and I will be done. I am happy.

 

Today I went to wal mart for more wrapping paper, bows, and gift boxes, so now I am all ready to start wrapping. I can't wait. I love wrapping gifts.

 

Elena

[megee]

We got to walmart at 2:45 am ( after breakfast at the local truck stop at 1:30 am). Walked around and checked out the item locations. People really started coming in around 4:15 am. I got the 32 lcd tv for hubby's Christmas gift. And my friend got the $388 laptop. So we were both thrilled. The place was a zoo, and at 4:45 am a problem occurred at the 49.xx portable dvd players. I guess people refused to wait until 5 am and just started taking them. Wouldn't listen to workers or managers. By 5:13 am it was announced portable dvd players are gone! Wow -- last year we had those things still left for a week. ( i hope this years were better, because i thought last years were junk-- so cheap, my kids were break it in a week). All in all a great and fun day.

[Kanyon71]

We started the morning off at BB, there we bought the 37" Dynex LCD (wanted to replace our old HEAVY 36" Sony Wega in the bedroom), got the $59 photo printer with free case, bought a few movies, chicken shoot for the Wii.

 

We really wanted one of the cheap laptops for my BIL for christmas, peoples greed with that made me sick though. Someone had 6 of them and you can guess that they had 5 other people with them to cover the 1 PP. All paid for by one person of course. I seriously think something needs to be done about this whole thing and people just buying these to resell on places like ebay.

 

We then left and went to Bed Bath and Beyond to pick up a few small things. Went to breakfast very near B.B. as we were waiting till 9am to pick up the TomTom GPS as they had enough to cover the tickets handed out and the guy said they only had to wait till 9am to be able to sell them without. So we headed back to BB and I was talking to the guy who was watching the cage. Bunch of us where standing in line just talking and laughing then just before 9am some guys showed up and tried to break through all of us to get the GPS units. Let's just say, I'm a big guy, my BIL is a big guy and we had been talking to a couple of other guys who where big. So this didn't happen :) also helped a lady who had been talking with all of us told one of the ones trying to cut through all of us that the cop right outside the store watching everyone was her husband and she would be more then happy to call him in the store.

 

So we bought two of the GPS units there, all the other people except the ones who tried to bust through us all got what they wanted. :) I honestly have to say the way this BB did things was great things where SO much better and smoother then any other time I've gone out.

 

After that we headed to Lowes to pick up a few things, then off to Wal Mart, picked up 20 DVDs, 1 Blu Ray movie (for me :) ) some toys, clothes and various other things.

 

After that we headed to Michaels (she wanted some stuff from there), I went next door to Linens and Things to pick up two of the 5.6" Digital Photo frames, I then headed next door to Circuit City and picked up the 7" Digital photo frame and a game for the Xbox 360. Circuit City was HORRIBLE the store wasn't that busy but the checkout took me FOREVER. I was like 3 people back and it took 45 minutes or so to get through the line. Needless to say I was annoyed.

 

After that we headed home had some lunch rested for a little while then went out to Target to pick up a couple things last night.

 

Today we went back to Best Buy and Wal-Mart to finish off our shopping for Christmas. Now I just need to figure out what to get her and she's not being much help. :)

[honora152]

I managed to get all my shopping done online this year :)

 

Two 19' LCD monitors from Best Buy, and a portable HD, and ordered the 399 Laptop from Circuit City.

 

The Circuit City order has turned out to be a real fiasco however. I placed a telephone order for the Laptop as soon as I saw the site come back up late Wed/ Early Thurs morning. The non-english speaking customer service rep was not able to come up with a confirmation number, but assured me it would arrive via email within 24-48 hours.

 

The next day I recieved a call from CC, asking if I had placed an order for a laptop- "yes", I said, "Can I have a confirmation number now?" I got the same "24-48 hours via email" reply.

 

Well- today, I got my first communication from Circuit City- They canceled my order. My credit card's still charged of course, so I can't even use the money I had put aside for a Laptop to shop somewhere else. I'm very very frustrated with Circuit City right now. And it looks like I'm not going to be able to get the laptop I saved for for the last 6 months.

[Bestbuy7]

Circuit City is the worst on BF. They seriously need to learn from Best Buy. We went to BB at opening and got out in 45 minutes. We went to CC at 6, and it took 2 hours and 45 minutes! and all we got were a few blank CDs and flash drives!

 

QUOTE]

 

 

I can surely relate. Last year i stood in line nearly a hour and the line did not make any significant progress, so i left empty handed. Went to BB and it was the total opposite,it wasnt crowded , almost all the doorbusters were still available.

[cinnamon16201]

Wow you all got some great deals!

 

We decided that there wasn't any huge thing to stand in line for this year, so we went out later. But I got up a bit early and got the two things from Staples that I wanted from their website so we didn't have to go there.

 

Went to Office Max and got a great HP Wireless Photosmart Printer C7180 for $149.99! It was like $250 off! That was my Christmas present from hubby because I am a scrapbooker.

 

I got hubby one of those Sony DVD recorders that you don't need a computer from Sears. Got the last one!

 

Since we are building a retirement home we aren't spending much for Christmas. I did order one of the LE Nintendo DS from Amazon for daughter Friday evening, but if I can get one from TRU on Monday for the 20% off Paypal deal, I'll return it for the better deal. But if they go out of stock at least I'll have the first one.

[reido50]

Went to Walmart 30 minutes before the sales started and still got:

$388 Dell notebooks X2

$50 portable DVD player X2

all the movies i wanted

$68 8mp digital camera with case

$64 8gb mp3 with video

$11 2gb scandisk security card X6

 

then went to Radio Shack and price matched my Magellan 4040 at $299

 

then hit Wlagreens, Sears and CVS. Now gotta work overtime to pay this stuff off.

 

The only problem at Walmart were the portable DVD's. That was scary, people were shacking after struggling to get one if they were lucky. Three big dudes had all but one corner blocked off and they were tossing them as fast as they could behind them to their friends.

[Itchy]

Bought the 37" LG LCD at CC for the kickass price of $749 online for in-store pickup:D

 

...was contemplating going and standing in line a few hours before open to try to nab the 42 inch Aquos for $799, but temps were in the low teens and I decided to chose the warmth of my bed instead of the self-inflicted masochism of slow freezing my nuts off:gdchatter:

[judgedee]

Well funny story at Black Friday this year..... so me and my friends arrive at midnight at the Best Buy in Sunnyvale, CA with some chairs and prepare for the impending wait. The line had snaked around the store all the way toward the entrance of the plaza and about 2 hours into the wait... suddenly a loud cry is heard. A few people start running toward the entrance of the store then suddenly BOOM the whole line starts running. I look at my friend and ask him if we should run too. He said I should go and he is going to take care of the chairs. So I run which makes the people who didn't run start running too. I manage to push myself into a densely clumped mass of flesh waiting. I had no idea what was happening so I tried to ask the people around me... apparently some fool was passing out numbers to people in the line and then this led some people to believe that tickets for laptops were being passed out which caused a panic which caused people to start running.

 

While I was in the line, somebody yelled to everyone else to get back to where everyone was. Some were foolish to obey while others stayed and held their ground. THe next thing you know another line starts forming but instead of forming around the store it was now a line away from the entrance. I pushed myself closer to the wall knowing it was safer there when the employee came to organize the line. The police came and forced everyone to remain clam. 30 minutes later a employee came by and forced everyone to get into a single file line. The shocking thing was people left their tents, chairs and trash coffee all along the wall because they were too scared to lose their spot. For the next hour or so the poor BB employee had to listen to people wailing because they lost their place in line when the chaos descended.

 

And I was thinking I bet this isn't the first time this happens and I was amazed at how easily you can screw people at the front of the line... just make a bunch of numbered pieces of paper pass it out to a few people. Cause a panic and get the line all muddled up make sure you're in front and voila you just guaranteed yourself a laptop...since the numbered paper is not official and as long as you have some support from people you're safe.

 

SIDENOTE::

Anyone have any vendors come by trying to sell you overpriced coffee and donuts? Did anyone buy any? I don't think anyone in our line bought anything. Seems like a waste of time.

 

SIDENOTE 2::

Anyone see any fight? I saw some pushing and shoving combined with a loud verbal confrontation for a toshiba laptop. A lot of swearing and finally a employee had to come in and kick them out.

[lovebears65]

UGH I dont think I will go back to Best buy next year if any store on Black Friday. It was so bad in Pensacola. We had so many fights, One arrest. I mean the line was about half of what it was in 2006 and the people were down right mean. People who tried to cut in line all the time. People grabbing tickets out of other peoples hands. The cops told best buy at 3 am to control the crowd or they were clearing the parking lot. We were in line for 24 hours total. I got everything on my list except the big ticket LG tv I wanted which the store had NONE in stock It was a mad house . They told us to go to the balloons but you had to purchase the items for the tickets at that ballon even if you were not done shopping I had been going to this same best buy for 5 yrs. And in all the years I have never seen such a hateful crowd. I mean the people around us was nice but we knew we were getting all the the ticket items I was number 4 in line DH was 5. But we got so many people who was trying to buy our spots , tickets and just being mean.. Dh said this was the last year at this store and I think I am for him. I love and live for black Friday. I think we may shop online next year or just not worry about it and pay the extra money.. We had one arrest , several fist fights, verbal fights ( at the middle of the line) One bright spot we had two ladys who pulled up in a huge SUV and had a dance bit it was really nice .. But I am so upset. I will have to say Maria from the digital camera area ( i think the department manager ) was the nicest of them all and helped us the most and will be writing best buy about her customer service but other then the lead Geek squad guy and one other lady Jessica the other employees were rude and untrained.

[jackpotladi]

I didn't have to fight any crowds or traffic at all this yr. I started out at Bealls on Wed. as they sent me an email, calling it Black Wednesday. If you came in from 6-9 PM they gave you the BF prices. Since I'd already spent over $200 a few days before, they adjusted my receipt to the BF prices. On BF I went to Target & got the $4.50 coffeepot, socks & gloves at 10pm! Then on Sat. I went to Walmart & got the Playstation 3 80 GB, with 15 free Blueray movies during their 8 AM secret sale! All 3 stores were deserted & I felt like I had the stores all to myself. What a great weekend!

[ohitsunshine]

I spent BF in Virginia with my sisters and my parents came down to visit. It was my husband, 2 sisters and mom. We went to Kohls first-got in line about 3:30 which was perfect because by 4 it was wrapped around the building. There were a lot of people who did the door opening rush and budged but not anything too bad. I got some Pollys (and they wouldnt take the coupon), the Brother sewing machine (there were only 4 on the shelf and they were gone before I walked away with mine...never thought a sewing machine would be such a hit!) and some pjs. Next we went to Target. There were a lot of people planning on rushing the doors and the security guy came out and yelled at them and made them move to the end of the line. We really wanted the City Lego set ($49, normal 75). My husband ran to get it and I was following behind- some guy jumped in front of me and launched off an endcap- his foot was about even with my face....luckily I ducked backwards a little and was spared! My husband got 1 of only 2 of the Lego sets. We picked up HSM Mytery Date and went back by the Legos- there was already some mom back there yelling at an employee for being out- my husband stood there and told her there were only 2- I dont think that helped. After that was Staples to pick up the jump drives, paper shredder and sony memory sticks. Other than that we hit a couple of local stores- including Game Craze- we walked in to pick up another copy of WoW for the kids at $10- they had 17 Wiis and sold all 17 within an hour of putting a sign on the door. We watched someone buy the last 2 and the next person walked in and immediately bitched the sign was still on the door (the lady was JUST walking out with her bags) and we got the last copy of WoW too...not that that is a big deal. I am so thankful we got a Wii over the summer because thats all I heard about from shoppers. Other than that...it was fairly good- not any great deals but we got a few goodys off the list.

[wendytom]

Let's see...BF and I went to bed at 10pm on Thursday, got up at 2, no 2:08, nooo it was 2:16. Left the house at 3:10 and hit the local Whataburger for some caffeine and burritos. The silly boy in line said how was your night, we told him we were just getting started, he laughed.

 

Stood in line at Staples (40 miles from the house), was about 15th in line and got what I went after, Navigon 2100...(thanks MARCSTER for your detailed info). Left and went to Sears, BF got tools for DH. Went to CC for a couple of games, Mario Wii game was there but the PC game wasn't..oh well. Went to Bath and Body, got some wallflowers smellums;) and went on our merry way. Finally stopped at Starbucks for some energy:tired:, then went on to Old Navy, got a couple of $8 sweaters. Went across the way to Kohl's and almost fainted at the long line....shopped for a while got some really good deals, they extended the doorbuster prices through 2:30 WAHOO!!!! Then went to Target, got some cheap DVD's and went home.

 

We were out for 15 hours, needless to say, we were very tired and slept most of Saturday. All in all was a great shopping day, thanks GD...you made it easy.

[messymommy]

I went to Rockford, IL. (I live 1hr45minutes away but got in with sis 1hr15min from Rockford so I started out at 2am from home:D). We started at Kohls 4am, line was down the sidewalk both ways from both doors! I did get the Kitchenaid Mixer which I got for 159.99 then 30 mail in rebate, used Kohls card w/coupon for extra 15% off then got the GCs I'll use so I got that mixer for around $85!!! Too sweet. My mom & sister got down pillows & the special down comforters super cheap. Kohls-got everything on list.

Next stop was WM-the one near Cherryvale Mall, WHAT A JOKE! Totally disorganized! They "lost" the cybershot cameras???? How do you lose cameras? I started in the massive line at the photo counter, cut alittle but hey, lol. They announced at 10 til 5am that they didn't know where they were yet, O.K. Meanwhile, game chairs were on a pallet behind me and I heard noise and they were being taken, by 5 til they were all gone, glad I didn't want those. Employees and a manager just let them do it, no one said a work except mad customers that didn't get there in time! An announcement was made that the digital frames and cybershot cameras were all back in Tire-Lube so I got in the line there, me-mom-sis took turns holding the spot in line which was not moving because they were making you pay for the things they had right there, stupid idea! Finally got up there and asked for what I wanted, GPS & Cybershot camera, they told me they still didn't know where the cameras where! WHAT??? We were in that line for 45 minutes, not counting the 20 mins I was in line at the camera counter and NO CAMERAS. I threw a fit and didn't even get the GPS, too mad! The employees back there were very rude and one guy first had said he didn't work this store and was just there helping out but when I said I was getting a manager he suddenly said he was a manager...whatever! I was so ticked I walked down the mile long line of others waiting and announced Walmart has false advertised the cameras, they don't have the Sony Cybershots for $79, everyone should call management and complain. There was silence as I announced this and then a huge uproar as I made my way away from the irate crowd. I hope walmart there enjoyed my patronage. Never again to that WM.

Menards-holy crap! Madhouse but got everything and we were 5 minutes after 6am thanks to the first Wm. We hit a different WM then Target and I got the Guitar Hero 3 special set for $85 -game & 2 guitars...had hit another walmart previously and got the 30 wireless guitar and the regular 80 guitarhero set(regular price but wanted it) -returned that at the end of the day as Target was clearly the better choice. Sis got GPS at other walmart also...Alpine corner one...got there around 8:30-calm, organized and plenty of the stuff...got my camera! We chilled out after all our important stuff was bought, got home around 9pm. This was our 3rd year and will do it again...I look forward to it every year!

[moondancer69]

Target:

37" olevia for $550

2 tutech digital picture frames for $50

a bunch of cheap DVDs

dvd player -$25 (that i returned because they had an upconvert one at walmart for @29)

 

-went inside the mall from the Target line to PEE in JCpenneys and for 2 FREE mickey mouse snowglobes:)

then got a pair of leather gloves for $20

 

Linens n' things:

10 pc farberware cookware with free $10 giftcard & free knife set

 

Staples:

Free universal remote

 

Circuitcity.com:

19" Element lcd hdtv- $199

Sirius radio and activation and 3 months service- $70

 

Aeropostale:

bunch of stuff for 50% off

 

Walmart:

Upconvert DVD payer: $29

TV stand: $49

little crockpot and chopper- $3.50 each

 

 

The only thing I didn't get was a cheap bluetooth headset at staples or radioshack!

OH and on T-Day kmart didn't get a shipment of magellans so i signed my name on a list and theyre gonna call me when they get them in and I'll get it for the T-day price :)

[jarerice]

I went shopping again Saturday. And I came almost done shopping. All I have to buy now are a few things for my DH. I ended up getting 4 paid of Sperry shoes for 40.00 each at Dillards. I picked up a few more purses at Belks. I got my mom some sheets and a chopper.

 

I am in the Christmas Mood now! I even started wrapping the gifts!

[amberjobryant]

Had a good day all in all. Started out at goody's which opened the doors at 4am eventhough thier ad said 5, it was great there were only like 5 other people in the store, got everything we wanted and got out quick. Meanwhile my husband was in line at sears, when we joined him we were like maybe 10th in line, so we got in and they had no Chou Chou babys and not down alternative comforters (the sales lady said they had them out all week), very disapointed so we ran down the mall to elderbearman and got the same items for same price. Home depot was the same way, they had thier stuff out all week and it was gone. Also hit walgreens for doorbusters and it was great, every one was nice and helpfull, I even had another customer personally show me where the moonsand was, great experince. All in all got everything we went for and had a great time, it even snowed a bit which helped get us in the spirit.

[miller205]

I got in line at Circuit City at around 9pm Thursday night. I was probably about 25-30th in line but it was hard to tell as people left their chairs there and kept going to their cars bc it was so cold. I was alone though so I stayed right where I was. It was FREEZING and the guy in line behind me kept complaining the whole time about how his group wasn't going to get the 3 laptops they came for and how many did CC have. I told him several times that my friends BF works there and said they would have about 13 of the Compaq and IDK about the others.

 

At about 11:30 I had had it with the cold and was about to pick up my things and go (even though most of the people in line were just awesome to hang with) when the guy behind me suddenly had a little tantrum (bc he was convinced every person in front of us was after the same laptop he was) and went down the line asking everyone what they were there after. When he came back from what he said I realized that I was about the 10th person there for the Compaq so I had a chance at one and could not leave now.

 

I waited the night out, went to my car twice to warm up while the people in line with me saved my spot(they were there for TVs so I could trust them). There really was a comraderie out there. Around 3:30 everyone stood up and started to stir as employees were starting to come in. We all started to move toward the door but it wasn't until 4 that they came out with the vouchers. This is when all chaos ensued. The CC guy just hollered out "ok who wants the HP laptop" and everyone started clammering for the vouchers. By the time he got to the Compaq I was pretty much surrounded by people who were far behind me and was not getting a voucher. Eventually the guy said "ok last one on the compaq who wants it?" we all yelled me me me and he "said who was here first". At this point I had no idea but the guy who had waited in line in front of me all night yelled "give it to this lady she has been here all night she deserves it". So I got it!!!! I owe him such a debt of gratitude.

 

Anyway, by the time the doors had opened we had some line jumpers lurking. As the doors opened this one kid climbed under the barricade. I thought the crowd was going to kill him!! It was so bad they closed the doors on us again and we were all squished in like sardines watching this one guy go after the line jumper. Eventually we all were let in and it was omg, just like you see on TV. I really wasn't sure we would make it!! Later on when I was in the laptop line I heard a ruckus over by the TV's (no voucher for those) and I see the line jumper fighting with the same guy from outside all over again!!! I left soon after.

 

CC does not know how to take care of these crowds. From what I understand BB is much better.

[Hank Monk]

Sooner or later, there will be some real violence as a direct result of the failure of BB & CC to engage in effective crowd control. They don't even try. They wrongly think their refusal to try will protect them. Any merchant serving alcohol in this manner would lose their license.

 

The use of tickets is a start, but is already being abused.

 

The solution is easy and no cost. A combination of unique hand stamps, colored sharpie hand numbering followed by last minute tickets for specific items could easily be handled by one person intermittently and without notice as the waiting crowd grows.

 

If everyone knows the system, it would police itself easily. Line jumpers with no hand stamp get no item tickets. No stamp, no entry, go to the end of the line and you'll be hand stamped & numbered....THEN you will be allowed in the door. Our employee doing the hand stamps is AT THE END OF THE LINE.

 

"You have bought a ticket but have no 3 am hand time stamp, go to the end of the line. Your ticket will not be honored. Neither will your fake bit of paper meant to LOOK like our originals. "

 

First ten hand stamped, sequential numbered sharpie w/ item tickets have 30 seconds, next ten 30 seconds, next ten, 30 seconds.

 

" Does anyone else have the 3 am AND 4 am hand stamp AND an item slip? " ONLY you folks next."

 

" All hand stamps only now"

 

Failure to get control of the line jumpers will eventually cost CC & BB a huge lawsuit judgement for failing to control their crowds.

 

I'm ready to be called as a jurror.