The Official TT Offtopic Black Friday 2008 Thread

[Elga]

The Official TT Offtopic Black Friday 2008 Thread

Black Friday is only 2 weeks away! I've started my initial planning this evening as well as reading BFAds.net. The big players for me right now are:

Staples
TomTom GPS Navigation System- $99 (Originally $199)-$100 Savings

Sears
Kenmore 3.5-cu ft. capacity High Efficiency Washer & 5.8-cu ft capacity dryer with electronic Moisture Sensor (Pair) $699.99
(Although small, $700 for a pair of Kenmore Washer/Dryer, wow!)

Wal-Mart-Save Money Live Better!
Samsung 50" Plasma HDTV-$798
(This is a rumored item only- not officially confirmed.)

Ideal is waiting in line at Staples for the GPS, only because it's the closest to my house and they serve coffee and donuts to people on line! Also I wouldn't have to get there probably until 3AM. Wal-Mart is nearby, but that one is open 24/7 and you pretty much have to push and shove to get things.

Sears and the other Wal-Mart that is closed on Thanksgiving night (Midnight-5AM) is about 12 miles down the road. My friend's fiance works at that Wal-Mart and she might get to work Thanksgiving night and get off at 10:30pm. If so we will probably meet her there and start a line at around 11pm for the 5AM opening. This is the most craziest, but will probably be the most fun. I went to Wal-Mart tonight to see what a 50" plasma looks like and Sure it's a plasma, but I really want it for a computer monitor! How sweet would that be. If her work schedule works out, they will probably do Wal-Mart and I'll probably join.

This thread is for discussion of hot items and preplanning for your Black Friday adventures. Share your thoughts!

 

[Little Sadie]

Oooowwww! I avoid Black Fridays! I get all my shopping done before then. I do like to go out to lunch at the mall though and watch all the harried shoppers. LOL!

Sounds like a nice list though. I hope you get everthing you are after!

 

[MsStathamSim]

I'm not shopping. I'm going to the zoo.

 

[Sir Bumblenoodle]

For those that have access to military bases.... AAFES looks like the place to go...

HP Notebook Computer w/Intel Dual Core T3200 Processor, 15.4" TFT Screen, 2GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, DVD-RW Drive, Vista Home Premium - $349.00

Kodak 10.0 MegaPixel M1093 IS EasyShare Digital Camera - $119.00

Dane-Elec 4GB SD Memory Card - $9.95

Sharp BDHP21U Blu-Ray DVD Player - $189.00

Magellan Roadmate 1200 GPS - $95.00

$20 Gift Card To First 100 Customers - $0.00

Coby 7" Digital Picture Frame - $39.99

XBox 360 60GB Console w/Lego Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda, and Gears of War - $299.95

 

[Hile]

Dude you already have a GPS!

 

[Elga]

Dude you already have a GPS!

I do, and actually I just bought another one..lol
I flipped by HSN last night and they were selling the
Garmin nüvi 205 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

It is onsale for $146, $199 still at Staples. The cool thing with that one is that you can take it with you and it has a pedestrian mode. So like at the casino when I couldn't find my car, you can set your location and it will guide you back to your vehicle. I then researched the Tom Tom and didn't see as good as the Garmin, so hey what the heck.

My dad says I should really buy a 50" Plasma and it would a nice addition to the living room, yeah I'm sure it would. If I do decide to do it, I might go to the one that is open 24/7 and stand by the pallet and hope I don't get killed..lol I'm waiting for the official ad from Wal-Mart to decide if it's worth it.

EDITED to Add 11/18/08: I found the leaked Wal-Mart blitz information. I would assume it may change due to the fact, but it has a map of where the items will be located on the floor. If anyone is interested, PM me your email.

 

[Elga]

Black Friday Plan Update:

Well I received my Garmin Nuvi in the mail, I love it. So the GPS is off my list.
I went to Best Buy to check out TV's, and I found they had a Insignia 50" Plasma On-Sale for $797 (Originally $1299) (Insignia is Best Buy House Brand-Made by LG). I was like "Woah" So I get a salesman and I ask "Dude, what's the deal with this Insignia, that's a great price." It turns out the offer was available online the past week and it was ending on Saturday. Technically I could have got one at that price and had one ordered. BUT Just looking at the difference between the 720p and the 1080p kind of turned me off. So I was still left with a decision, so I went to a Kiosk and started reading reviews. Burn In and a delay in the screen seemed to be a problem, so that's no good. Now I go online today to find Best Buy offering a 50" Samsung 720p for $797. I am certain this will be the exact model Wal-Mart will be carrying. I search of the model number came up with no reviews/etc. It looks like it's just a bare bones TV that Samsung made to sell for cheap. So still reading about how the plasma can still "burn in", I've kinda strayed away from this deal. It's definitely not worth waiting in line overnight, when you can get the same thing now for the same price!

I'm still going out to buy something, I'm just not sure what yet!

 

[Little Sadie]

I need a new Nintendo Lite in shiny pink. If you see a good deal, let me know. Thanks!

 

[Trish]

I'll be working as always But if there are good deals, hubby's on vacation. I can make him go He'd kill me for making him wake up early, but wth lol

 

[Elga]

I need a new Nintendo Lite in shiny pink. If you see a good deal, let me know. Thanks!

Hmm, the best I'm finding is $129 at Wal-Mart and Amazon. The pink seems to be the "Coveted color". If you would be willing to go for Ice Blue or Red, you can get a game and the DS for $136 on BF at Wal-Mart.


Toys'R'Us has a $149 deal, but it doesn't specify color.

It also looks like Wal-Mart, Sears, and a few others are planning to offer many of the sales online, so that's cool. See if you can crash the website!

 

[Little Sadie]

Thanks Elga for the info. My daughter really wants that pink one. She is buying it out of her own money so I was just hoping to get her a good deal. I imagine she will wait til she gets the color she wants. Right now she uses my white one. I let her put a Hello Kitty skin on it to make her happy but she wants that pink one. LOL!

 

[Trish]

Oooo, Staples have an 8 gig thumb drive for $15. If I were going out I'd totally get that. My 512 isn't big enough anymore.

 

[Elga]

Wal-Mart also has one for $16, I may get 2. That is a good deal, like half off. I'm planning on hitting the 24/7 Wally World at 4:30am, as I just want the little deals like that. Then I'll hit Staples and see if they have anything else cool. The funny thing is I was talking to this woman on BFAds and she is going to the same exact Wal-Mart, so I'm to look out for her. It's a small world!

 

[Elga]

Booyah, just got my first BF Deal. Amazon.com has a lot of good deals. Actually almost every retailer has Thanksgiving Day Online sales. I just bought a George Foreman GRP90WGR Next Grilleration Removable-Plate Grill with 5 Plates, Red for $49.99. They say you save $100, but elsewhere it looks like still $120. Oh and FREE Super Saver Shipping. I'll be making waffles and panini's in no time!

 

[Elga]

The time has come..

• Battle Gear On ---CHECK
• Gameplan---CHECK
• Beverage for the 10 minute ride---CHECK
• Willing to push small adults if necessary---CHECK

..And at 6:45AM I'm back!
So this is how it went down. I made it to Wal-Mart a little after 4AM. People staked there claim around the TV pallets and other good buys.
I couldn't find the $30 XBox games, so instead I setup shop at the $9 DVD display. You could pull the plastic down and see what they had. The employee watching kept saying "You can look, but no touchie.." The dumb thing was they didn't have a display for the 8GB Flash Drives, but instead they had a line formed in electronics and they had them behind the counter. I knew I could get the same thing at Staples for $2 less, so I avoided that silly line. Well about 4:58am the people at the 32" TV pallet started going nuts and you could see TV's flying all over the place. So our employee was like "Oh what the heck, let's roll" and she cut the plastic. I grabbed a copy of the movie 21 and then rolled over and got my mom her $15 coffee pot. WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE SHOPPING CARTS? It just creates traffic jams and people get aggravated. Luckily I make it back to the front register and was back in my car at 5:05am. So then I head down to Staples, when I went back earlier at 4am I saw about 5 people already there. The line only grew about another 5 people and I was probably #11 in line. At 5:30 the GM and store manager came out and made a speech and started giving out vouchers for the big items. None of the things I wanted was on the list. 6AM came and they opened the doors. I ran with the frenzy of people to the back where they had tables setup. I got

-8GB Thumb Drive ($12.99 with rebate)
-640GB External HD ($69.99)
-50 Pack DVD-R ($4.98)

I hustled back to the register before the line got long and managed to set off the alarm on the way out. The woman at the door almost accused me of being a thief, but I quickly presented my receipt like a good person should! McDonalds for breakfast and now I'm back.
Overall a good BF experience. I really didn't have to push anyone, a little at WM when trying to maneuver through the aisles.

 

[Sally Bumblefoot]

SUCCESS!!! Well I had a game plan too which worked out fairly well. I decided Kohl's was my main stop because they had the most on sale and it opened first. I set the alarm for 3 am and I grabbed my pack mule, er....my husband. I was thinking about those GPS units Elga was talking about for my son because he calls me lost on his way to the store!! I was also thinking about the 500 GB external hard drives so we could get pictures and other things off the desktop for back-up and to free up space. Sooooo, before we left, I got on-line at Walmart and they had the GPS and the hard drive in stock so I was able to order that and not worry about it. We headed out to Kohl's and pumped money into the economy bigtime. They had a tremendous white sale going on so I loaded up my hubby with pillows, sheet sets, towels, etc, and he got in line. They had all their toys 50% off, $140 wool coats for $59, $50 mens jeans for $12, $40 wireless headsets for $17 (I have to fight for mine everytime I want it!!). The line went from the front of the store, snaked around the back of the store, and back to the front! It was fine cuz I just kept shopping!!! By the time he got on the 3rd leg I was done and had a few items I couldnt find so he left to find them. Man he had a system. He had the handles of like 15 bags woven around each other so he was dragging them all by a little loop. He says "whatever you do, dont let go of this". I didnt. He found the items I was missing and we were off.

Next stop Best Buy. We went in looking for these Ipod wall rechargers that were $29 on sale for $12 figuring they were out but we were driving right by. Well, they had a whole rack of them so we picked up 2. Then we looked for the 8GB flashdrives for $19.99 and they had quite a few of those too so I picked one up.

The sad stop of the trip was to Meijer. The parking lot was pretty much empty and no lines at the registers. Not good. Only a few minutes in there and then on to Home Depot (Yeah I know, it was hubby's idea). He got his coveted 6 pack of flashlights and we started for home. We left the house at 3:45 and got home around 8:30. We crashed again until about 11 am. I pretty much finished all my shopping and now have $80 Kohl's cash to spend this week.

All in all a very successful morning!!!

 

[MsStathamSim]

I ended up not going to the zoo.

*TMI ALERT*

When I got up this morning, my pee smelled really foul. By the time we were heading out to meet my sister and nephews for lunch, I was nearly doubled over in pain and felt really queasy. So I dropped Mike off at the restaurant and went to the med center. They told me I had a UTI (duh) that might be spreading into my kidneys (uh-oh) and gave me some prescriptions.

*END OF TMI*

While I was waiting for the prescriptions to be filled, I went to Pet Supplies Plus (we were out of kitty litter). They had a special going on; anything you could fit into a bag was 20% off, plus you got to keep the bag, which was a super-cute Christmas gift bag with a puppy on it. I bought a few little things that we weren't quite out of, plus 7 crinkle-ball toys for the Humane Society cats. They always look so bored in their little crates. After I paid for them I took the crinkle balls to the kitties one at a time, and they all perked up like 'What's that? It made a noise! Ooo, can I see? OMG, you're putting it in my crate? No way! tap...tap...batbatbatPOUNCE!'
So then I went and picked up my drugs, and bought some more stuff we weren't quite out of (milk, juice, yogurt), came home and took a nap. So I guess I broke my no-shopping-on-Black-Friday rule this year...but does it count if it's groceries and household supplies?

 

[Elga]

So I guess I broke my no-shopping-on-Black-Friday rule this year...but does it count if it's groceries and household supplies?

Yes, you got things on sale and went on a frenzy and stuffed a bag, you're guilty!

 

[Trish]

So I guess I broke my no-shopping-on-Black-Friday rule this year...but does it count if it's groceries and household supplies?

Yes, you got things on sale and went on a frenzy and stuffed a bag, you're guilty!

What he said.

 

[Little Sadie]

Wow, everyone got some good deals! I avoided BF but did get that DS Lite online the other day. It was $129 with free shipping and it came in rose metallic which is the coveted color. It also came with a free Club Penguin game which is regularly $29.99. Emma got a great deal and I get my white DS Lite back!