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Black Friday - I dont ever remember it being like this....

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Black Friday - I dont ever remember it being like this....

Old 11-23-06, 10:56 PM
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Black Friday - I dont ever remember it being like this....

Is it just me, or has it gone crazy this year? There are stories at some of the websites of people camping out at 4:00pm Thursday at Best Buy stores across the country....that seems above and beyond anything i can remember.

I have done the 'camp out' thing before, and all I can remember is getting there a few hours early...maybe 3am for a 6am opening and youd be good. But that was when i was younger and dumber.

Sure, i would have liked the 32" Westinghouse or the 42" Panasonic or what-not, but Im not going to sacrifice Thanksgiving dinner with my family and 13+ hours to save a few bucks.

I surely dont begrudge people that are doing it...more power to you. Its just not for me, not this year. Good luck, though...and Happy Holidays!
Old 11-23-06, 11:18 PM
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I think most of it is for the PS3, many people are hoping to score one from the recent shipment of units.
Old 11-23-06, 11:23 PM
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I think the PS3/ Wii may explain the volume at all stores, but it seems pretty likely that the plasma screen TV and the $250 notebook computer at Best Buy are driving the people who want to camp early to go there. As I mentioned elsewhere, my local CC had a line of about 10 at 9 PM. The BB right across the street had 100.
Old 11-23-06, 11:37 PM
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My girlfriend and i were talking about this a couple of minutes ago. We came back from watching a movie and we saw the nearby Wal-Mart and there were literally about 150 people camping out. The TV news were reporting that several stores were having people camping out since around 5:00 PM. I have not seen any great deals, so I just don't know what the rush/fuss/desperation is all about.
Old 11-24-06, 12:05 AM
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I went to Best Buy a few years ago and vowed to never again join the throngs of deal-crazed Orcs. It was a nightmare.
Old 11-24-06, 12:26 AM
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10:15...Just drove by a Best Buy on my way home from my gf's place and the parking lot was packed and the line was at least 100 people deep.

Earlier at 1:30, there were at least two dozen people camped out in front of the BB in Industry, CA.

MADNESS.
Old 11-24-06, 01:36 AM
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I work for Home Depot and thankfully we don't have it usually go quite that insane. Always very busy but no campers or anything like that, though this year we seem to have about 3-4 times as much stuff as last year and of a generally better quality. And I think that might explain some of the nuttiness this year. A lot of the deals *are* on good merchandise. It's not an Acer or eMachines laptop BB is selling for a couple of hundred dollars, it's a Toshiba. And the projection TV WalMart is selling for under $500 isn't an Apex or something, it's an RCA. I seem to remember in the past more rock-bottom pricing on shite that I wouldn't buy for half of what most were going apeshit for. I still think it's entirely insane, especially since more and more of the deals can be had online. There was a front page story in the Turkey Day Birmingham paper about people that'll rent U-Hauls and hit most of the outlets of most major retailers through the day and end up with the freaking thing totally full. How bonkers is that?
Old 11-24-06, 02:42 AM
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I work at Best Buy. I got off the night before Thanksgiving at around midnight and there were already 6 people in line...on WEDNESDAY NIGHT. Drove by on Thanksgiving around 5pm, and there was already around 200 people in line, some with tables having Thanksgiving dinner right there in line.

Insane.

= J
Old 11-24-06, 04:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Turd Ferguson
I went to Best Buy a few years ago and vowed to never again join the throngs of deal-crazed Orcs. It was a nightmare.
Same here...it was a total disaster.
Old 11-24-06, 07:37 AM
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Amen to the power of greed.

What else is there to say. In Florida last year we had knock down drag out brawls for an eighty dollar portable DVD Player

Councelor
Old 11-24-06, 07:40 AM
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What craziness did I miss? I slept in this morning. Let's hear the stories......
Old 11-24-06, 07:56 AM
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Target was great. Plenty of stuff, plenty of registers. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I did stop by Circuit City, but the lines were over 2 hours long to check out and the place was a madhouse. I didn't even bother with Best Buy. I got 90% of the stuff I wanted at Target anyway. The Jensen $28 ipod clock radio is pretty damn sweet.

Last edited by darkside; 11-24-06 at 07:59 AM.
Old 11-24-06, 09:21 AM
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Originally Posted by darkside
Target was great. Plenty of stuff, plenty of registers. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I did stop by Circuit City, but the lines were over 2 hours long to check out and the place was a madhouse. I didn't even bother with Best Buy. I got 90% of the stuff I wanted at Target anyway. The Jensen $28 ipod clock radio is pretty damn sweet.
I like Target's philosophy. They put out doorcrasher items that they can carry a sizable stock of. When I went in to mine this morning at 6AM, they had 25 plus of the hot 19" LCD TVs at $179, and about 70 of the 6 megapixel cameras at $98. There were ample stocks of the sale DVDs, and I didnt see anyone looking disappointed they didnt get something they were searching for. No lineups thanks to 15 cashiers being ready to go. Locally, BB, CC and Walmart are nightmares...unless you need the $249 laptop or $1000 42" HDTV, its a major health risk venturing into those stores on BF.
Old 11-24-06, 09:24 AM
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I was at Best Buy on Thursday the 23rd at 12:20p (noon + 20). I was the fourth family in line. Got the $379 HP laptop (using it now ), my niece got the same laptop, mom got the $250 Toshiba laptop, we got 3 of the $20 scanner/printer/copiers, a $30 Phillips DVD Player, an $80 (?) portable DVD player, and some blank DVDs. First guy in line was there at 4a and 2nd person in line was there at 9a. Don't know when the third got there.
Old 11-24-06, 09:43 AM
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Originally Posted by GatorDeb
I was at Best Buy on Thursday the 23rd at 12:20p (noon + 20).
You're a psycho! Congrats on your score, you certainly earned it. Now go and get some sleep.
Old 11-24-06, 09:56 AM
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Camped out at the Burnsville Best Buy and scored the 32" Westinghouse. This was my first Black Friday experience and probably my last.

I think I showed up around 6:30-7 p.m. and there were a good 15 people in line. Around 10 p.m. probably a good 100. I think by the time the doors opened, there were between 200-300 people wound around the building and parking lot. Best Buy was pretty on the ball when it came to line budgers and had a few people watching the line and kept it orderly.

But I was in and out in five minutes. My girlfriend and I eagerly sped away from the store and to the neighboring 24 hour Perkins where they had a private security guard and tow truck towing half the lot away. Oh man, that was so great watching that.
Old 11-24-06, 10:07 AM
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If you wanted the Panny plasma for $999.99 at BB and were afraid to brave the line, you might be in luck. I read over at FW that some BB's actually let people order the Panny for $1000(maybe BB corporate told the stores to move these sets). Also, another person was able to get Sears to PM the BB ad. I'm heading out the door now because I have less than an hour ot try and score one of these sets.
Old 11-24-06, 10:12 AM
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There was a line of 300+ at Circuit City this morning. I showed up at 4:55, stood in line for a little over five minutes, walked straight to the DVD section and picked up the two sets I wanted, and was out by 5:20 (only because the girl in front of me got into an argument with the cashier about bundled car stereo accessories). The guy behind me had been in line since midnight. The lines at Best Buy looked even worse, probably because of the laptops.

Next, I went to Meijer, where I had swung by on the way home from Thansgiving dinner last night and hid the stuff I wanted behind some filters in the automotive section. Everyone was buying the garbage Sylvania LCD televisions. Checkout lines were insane, but it was worth seeing all the people who were shocked that I managed to find Lego sets somewhere in the store.

I was out for three hours and hit three stores. Meijer was by far the worst of the three, which surprised me since they have by far the most cash registers. We may go to the mall later today to pick up some additional gifts, but there aren't any other compelling sales that we need to take advantage of.
Old 11-24-06, 10:30 AM
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I'm in a small town, so the lines don't even begin till 4am or so. I hit Staples at 5:30am and there was about 100 people ahead of me. Got in, got the stuff I wanted (200GB hard drive for $19.99, 1GB USB drive for $7.99 and the FAR surge protector). Spent 20 minutes in line because the woman in front of me at the register was arguing with the manager about rebates.

I did get into an argument with a woman with a side-by-side stroller with no kids in it, that was using it as a battering ram to get to the laptops.
Old 11-24-06, 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by GatorDeb
I was at Best Buy on Thursday the 23rd at 12:20p (noon + 20). I was the fourth family in line. Got the $379 HP laptop (using it now ), my niece got the same laptop, mom got the $250 Toshiba laptop, we got 3 of the $20 scanner/printer/copiers, a $30 Phillips DVD Player, an $80 (?) portable DVD player, and some blank DVDs. First guy in line was there at 4a and 2nd person in line was there at 9a. Don't know when the third got there.
Got to bestbuy Brick,nj at around 5 Thursday,11th in line.me and my wife did 4 Hr shifts in the rain.scored 2 HP laptops,1 compaq desktop w printer and lcd moniter and 1 toshiba laptop(250.00)....gifts for my daughter and myself and momi was offered bribes of 100.00 all night for plasma tickets.I passed.

overall it was fun as there was good people in line so conversations were flowing.the crazy part was BB said there were 1100 people in line.what were they going to get?
time for bed
Old 11-24-06, 11:33 AM
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It was all cool until this person got in line 2 spots behind me and started yelling that if the people in line didn't stay in line (i.e. no holding spots for people) she would tell the manager and not let people back in line. Yelled for an hour or so. So I called my family and 4 of us stayed from 2pm to 5am (I was there at 12:30p). Kept yelling now and then throughout the night. Wanted to inventory what my family was buying as we were nearing 5am and I got fed up and told her we were going to buy what we wanted, end of discussion.
Old 11-24-06, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by GatorDeb
It was all cool until this person got in line 2 spots behind me and started yelling that if the people in line didn't stay in line (i.e. no holding spots for people) she would tell the manager and not let people back in line. Yelled for an hour or so. So I called my family and 4 of us stayed from 2pm to 5am (I was there at 12:30p). Kept yelling now and then throughout the night. Wanted to inventory what my family was buying as we were nearing 5am and I got fed up and told her we were going to buy what we wanted, end of discussion.
Yikes. I would gladly pay full price for a laptop to avoid people just like that. However, congrats on sticking it out and scoring some good stuff.
Old 11-24-06, 12:37 PM
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I wanted that 249.99 laptop, but did not get to BB until 7am. It was gone.

Someone mentioned 'greed'. I don't think any of this is about greed, it's about finally hitting people's price points.

I'd like to have a laptop, and $249.99 hit right in my price point. Perhaps if they sold them at that price normally, they'd sell alot of them.
Old 11-24-06, 01:40 PM
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went to target at around 10am. there was still quite a bit of stuff left. the $98 camera was gone, but we figured that would be already. my surprise was that i was just looking for simpsons season 7 that had been advertised and then to my surprise all the simpsons and all the 24s were $16. i had grabbed 4 seasons of the simpsons and then they brought out more 24s so i picked up seasons 2-4. i'm glad i hadn't bought them at best buy last year for $20. went to pay, took all of 7 min. target is the best place to shop. stopped by bb and cc. barely anything left. not a big deal.
Old 11-24-06, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Councelor
Amen to the power of greed.



Councelor
Agreed that it's greed. Hardly anybody actually needs any of this crap. People just WANT WANT WANT, ugh...at least I enjoyed sleeping in this morning.

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