Black Friday

[skim36]

Just for the record....who's waiting in line on Black Friday?  Me and my buddy will be hitting Best Buy, and a friend of his will wait outside of Circuit City.  I've heard on a newswire from a Sony Rep that more PS3's will be available on Black Friday.  I doubt I'll see one....I'd like to get a wii though.  I think I'll eventually get all three next gen systems...you know...cause I have no life nstuff....   This will be my first experience on the busiest shopping day of the year.  Should be interesting....

--skim36

[RTSDaddy2]

I'll be out and about, and at some point I'll be by a retailer to try and pick up a nunchuck, and maybe a Wii points card, but that's about it.  I expect Wii merchandise to be back in stock, however...though I may get fooled.  Saw accessories still on the shelves at one Wal-Mart earlier today, so we'll see.

[Timoe]

Aren't you in Maine, Skim?  Idn'it gonna be cold up there?

Yeah, I'll be out with the missus at about 4am.

good luck to ya

[SNAAKE]

i will hit up bestbuy..must buy 22" lcd for $200

and 250 gig drives for $60

[AtomSmasher]

i will hit up bestbuy..must buy 22" lcd for $200

and 250 gig drives for $60

200 gig for $20 is a better deal at staples, but I agree about the monitor.

How early are you guys going to show up at Best Buy?  I figure I get early to best buy, then once I get the monitor, head over to staples and hope the harddrive didn't sell out.

[SNAAKE]

but I gotta go through all that rebate junk. how easy is staples "easy rebates" ??

[ImaTest]

but I gotta go through all that rebate junk. how easy is staples "easy rebates" ??

They're very easy.. and I don't mean that to be a pun.  I have had very good luck with them.

[ChadTower]

but I gotta go through all that rebate junk. how easy is staples "easy rebates" ??

What state are you in?  RI makes stores give you those rebates at the register.

The rebates are pretty easy now.  You can just go online and register it.  Of course, the Staples deal is one per customer.

[AtomSmasher]

but I gotta go through all that rebate junk. how easy is staples "easy rebates" ??

Staples rebates are the only rebates I actually feel like I'm going to get the rebate back.  The rebates are filled out online and then you can track the status of your rebate through their webpage.  Most rebates I feel like I never actually get it back, but I've always gotten the staples ones back.

[crashwg]

So here's my day.  It's a fairly long read I know... Read it if you want.  Or not.  Won't hurt my feelings! 

3:00am. Wake up

3:30. We (me, GF, 2 kids) get to Best Buy where my GF plans to drop me off for the $200 PC.  The line goes arround the building with at least 100+ people in it

3:30-5:00. Deliver the newspapers on my GF's paper route

5:00-5:15. Line at Toys R Us for Gameboy Micro (GOT IT!)

5:15-6:45. Line at Best Buy for $200 PC (just in case) and also, toshiba DLP projector both of which are sold out but they don't tell you that until you're all the way through the line.  We did however get PrisonBreak season 1 for $20 and Bejeweled 2 for $5

6:45-7:45. Target 15min shopping, 45 in line.  Got Simpsons seasons 5,6,7&8, Family Guy Vol 1&2 and 24 Season 2 all for $16 a piece! GOOD DEAL!

7:45-9:15. Circuit City standing in line for all but 20 min. or so at the register while the RETARDED cashier tried to figure out how to order something at the sale price becase they were out of the pink GBA.  Manager had to come over and show her 3 times and only on the third time did she not screw it up as soon as the manager walked away.  It is on order now and should be here before Christmas they told us.

9:15-10:00. Killed time at WalMart until D'angelos opened for lunch. Bought an FP3 player (not on sale but we needed to get it anyways and the lines were non existent at WM at the time)

Then we took a nap.

So, that was my day.  Would have been pretty dissapointing if it wasn't for the $16 DVD sets at target.  All totaled, we saved more than 50% on stuff we mostly would have bought anyways.

[tommy]

I ended up getting in a gamestop line about an hour before they opened on Friday.  I was 15th or so in line and when they finaly opened the door... we were all sad to hear they had only 1 Wii to sell that morning. 

You would think the GS workers would  be nice enough to let everyone wasting there time there that there was only 1 Wii and 0 ps3s to sell. 

[ChadTower]

Then you wouldn't come in and buy other things.

[AlanS17]

I was scouting for a Wii component cable, but they're hard to find. It's not that they were sold out - I wouldn't even know! The crowds were so big at places like Circuit City and Best Buy that I couldn't get into the video game sections. I'm going to check it out again tomorrow. I have some stuff to return, anyways.

I got away with a LOT of Christmas shopping, though. I'm actually almost completely done! The only things my brother and I bought for ourselves were found online through bestbuy.com and circuitcity.com (the same deals as the stores, but no line and free delivery). My brother got a 56" Toshiba DLP TV ($1200) and I got a NetGear wireless super G router ($10).

I actually got one of the Staples $20 200GB hard drives, but I really don't need it and I don't start my new job til next week. So I'll probably be returning.

Otherwise, we made away with a 1GB MP3 player ($35), 6 or 7 DVD's ($5 each), a bluetooth headset ($15), a 60GB portable hard drive ($40), an uninteruptable power supply ($20), a couple of label printers ($10 each), an upconverting DVD player ($50), 1GB SD card ($3), 1GB memory stick ($15)... all Christmas gifts.

[tommy]

Then you wouldn't come in and buy other things.

Come on, not a single person camps out hours at the store for anything else then a PS3 or a Wii. They all know we wanted to get the new consoles, i can walk in at any time and get anything else.

Waiting to the last minute to tell us they didn't have the new consoles to sell didn't make us buy anything, we still all left right away.

It wouldn't be too hard for them to peek there little head out of the door and say "sorry guys, if you're here for a next gen system we have none today"

[Zero_Hour]

If I had to get up at an ungodly hour to work the day after thanksgiving sales, I would probably not be of a mind to do anyone a favor. I like a good deal as much as the next guy, but those Black Friday loss leaders make me cringe. I'll be doing my holiday shopping from the comfort of my home, as I have pretty much for the past 6 years.

Congrats to everyone who got what they were looking for, and better luck next time to those who didn't. 

[AtomSmasher]

As I mentioned in another thread, I got to bestbuy around midnight and was at 200 people back in line.  I was going for the 22'' monitor, but didn't have a chance to get it.  Once I realized they handed out all the tickets for the monitor I left the line and went to staples where I was able to pick up a $20 200gig drive, $15 1 gig SD card, and Mcafee Internet Security Suite 2007 for free.

The amazing thing is that the best buy line took almost two hours to get everyone in line into the store.  There was far more then 1000 people in line, probably closer to 2000.  It was insane.  Staples is next door to BB so the BB line went in front of Staples, except staples was opening an hour later then BB.  At the end of that hour I still could not see the end of the BB line and it was still going when I left staples 30 min later.

[stephenp1983]

I stayed at home this year, while my wife went out around 4 am.  I managed to snag a 19 inch widescreen lcd from online at circuit city for 129, which isn't bad.  It is a proview but anything will be better than my 15 inch lcd

[tommy]

Next console launch i think getting a job at GS for a week is a good idea.    I heard all the employees got their console a week before anyone else, and at a discount.

[AlanS17]

I'd like to mention that I didn't get up at some ungodly hour. I woke up at 6am. Those no way I'd wait in those lines unless I was picking up something that was $1000+.

[Zero_Hour]

I'd like to mention that I didn't get up at some ungodly hour. I woke up at 6am. Those no way I'd wait in those lines unless I was picking up something that was $1000+.

I hear ya, I meant the employees who have to work on black friday getting up early just to deal with the hordes, and why they might not be especially eager to do the folks in line any favors like informing them of stock shortages. I should have been a bit more specific.

[AlanS17]

I hear ya, I meant the employees who have to work on black friday getting up early just to deal with the hordes, and why they might not be especially eager to do the folks in line any favors like informing them of stock shortages. I should have been a bit more specific.

Yeah, I bet that really sucks. I've never worked in retail. Don't really plan to. If I were to ever work in retail, it would be a part-time position at a place like GameStop or Pottery Barn. I'd just be working there for the discount and perks, and it would only be supplemental to my regular job.

Does anybody get off topic more than I do? 

[tommy]

I've been known to get off topic a time or two myself, it makes for a better thread sometimes. 

[Zero_Hour]

I hear ya, I meant the employees who have to work on black friday getting up early just to deal with the hordes, and why they might not be especially eager to do the folks in line any favors like informing them of stock shortages. I should have been a bit more specific.

Yeah, I bet that really sucks. I've never worked in retail. Don't really plan to. If I were to ever work in retail, it would be a part-time position at a place like GameStop or Pottery Barn. I'd just be working there for the discount and perks, and it would only be supplemental to my regular job.

Does anybody get off topic more than I do? 

I actually worked the Hardware counter at CompUSA years ago, over the Christmas holiday. Of the several retail jobs I had, that one was without a doubt the worst. Oh, and the discounts sucked too. Every single Sunday at CompUSA was an ordeal, as 45 min. past open we were sold out of every good deal listed in the Sunday insert. That is to say they loose as little as possible on 'loss leaders'. I suspect that experience has a lot to do with why I avoid big sales, they just irritate me, and I truly feel for the folks on the front lines who get chewed out as if they run the purchasing dept. of the company.

What was the topic again? 

[AlanS17]

I was at CompUSA this morning for a little while. You're right. Their discounts did suck compared to other places.

[spiffyshoes]

I ended up getting in a gamestop line about an hour before they opened on Friday.  I was 15th or so in line and when they finaly opened the door... we were all sad to hear they had only 1 Wii to sell that morning. 

You would think the GS workers would  be nice enough to let everyone wasting there time there that there was only 1 Wii and 0 ps3s to sell. 

You would think they would have let you know.  Some managers aren't as quick on thier feet to realise to do stuff like that.  I really like my local gamestop.  They have a great staff and are good at handling stuff like that.  (They also had a good number of Wii's and PS3 core systems to go around)  But to be fare they might have just been to busy to have time to think of letting you guys know.  The manager at the gamestop the I shop at said he had to show up at 2AM in order to be able to clean up the store and put up all of their marketing signage for the sale in time for opening the store.

[sidekick]

Does anybody get off topic more than I do? 

did someone call my name?


I worked that night, but had 2 hours I could burn from work so I left at 6:30 went to staples bought a 200G HD drove by BB and CC just to see haw bad a mess it was.... then went home

[versapak]

Went out at 6am in hopes of possibly finding a freakin Wii Nunchuck, but those things are just not to be found.

While I was out at Best Buy though, I did pick up a 1GB SD card for $15 (which the Wii uses as a memory card), and picked up a 1GB thumb drive for the same price as well.

I also picked up 3 of those canvas folding chairs (the ones that look like they are in a tent bag) for $4 a piece at Sports Authority.


Nothing major, but enough that I didn't feel the insane trip into Black Friday Land was for not.

[sphetr2]

I, unfortunately, was out of town for Black Friday (camping with the family).   

Any chance one of you would be interested in selling one of those 200 GB drives? I need one. 

[AlanS17]

I, unfortunately, was out of town for Black Friday (camping with the family).   

Any chance one of you would be interested in selling one of those 200 GB drives? I need one. 

Sorry, I sold mine to my brother.