Black Friday worth the trip State side?

[eeyoremum]

Hello American Friends,

Please tell me if taking a day off work and coming down to Buffalo for Black Friday is worth it? I am specifically looking for an itouch. Do they go on sale? We don't have anything like Black Friday in Canada. We have boxing day sales after Christmas but I don't think it rivals your Black Friday. Of course I have only seen the chaos on television so I know not every shop is what they show on the news.

 

[tvguy]

Interesting, my cousin in Ottawa e-mailed me and mentioned her Black Friday plans. Maybe you have just have missed the ads?
Actually, there is an entire website dedicated to Black Friday in Canada.

http://www.blackfriday.ca/

 

[Cheshire Figment]

No. It is definitely not worth it.

You would have to check the ads usually a day or two before The specials are usually very limited in quantity. And the stores will be total madhouses. Generally if you are not there within ten minutes of the store opening you will not be able to get anything. And you may not know in what part of the store the items you are looking for is.

 

[kimblebee]

We don't have black Friday here either. It is definitely not a Canadian thing. I didn't check out the website but I have never seen anything like it up here.


ETA: I looked at the website and it is about how Canadians can take advantage of the American black Friday. There's nothing going on up here.

 

[Christine]

Not worth it. And, no, the iTouch doesn't go on sale. The best you can do is maybe some stores are offering incentives when you buy it; i.e., Apple might give you something for free on the side, Target might give you a $10 gift card, Costco might give you some iTunes giftcards with it.

 

[Art 1]

No.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

There are typically some good deals on Black Friday, though I think it's getting a little out of hand because it's turned into Black November for the most part. I've been looking at the ads and I haven't been too impressed, but then again I'm not looking for anything. Check out bfads.net for the ads that have leaked so far.

 

[abdmom]

I was just across the border in Niagara Falls, NY last Saturday. Target had good prices on things like video game consoles and video games - compared to prices in Ontario. I would go look now, but I wouldn't go on Black Friday. Black Friday is just insane.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I LOVE Black Friday. I enjoy the festivity of it as much as the deals we get. Last year we got up at 3am with the kids, bundled up and split up. I went to Dickssporting goods and picked up a $1,000+ basketball hoop setup for $300-400 then brought it home, unloaded and met my DH at Walmart where he had captured 2 32" SONY TV's for my kids rooms for half price. After that we went home, put back on our PJs and watched movies all day because we were a bit sleepy

I don't quite know what it is I need/want this year but I can promise you that there will be something in the circulars that I will want because it's fun. Maybe this isn't everyone's version of fun but I totally get a kick out of it.

It's like "It's a Small World" in WDW to me, I KNOW it isn't the best ride ever but I love it anyway and wouldn't dream of missing it so year after year it's a must see

 

[momof1princess]

OP, at this point, i haven't seen anything in the BF ads that have leaked so far to make me want to get up in the middle of the night and brave the cold to go shopping. everyone seems to be waiting for wal-mart's ad to see if there's anything worth getting out for. we don't have a target or best buy store, so for me, BF is limited to wal-mart, k-mart, old navy and officemax.
my recommendation is to check the ads (gottadeal.com/blackfriday) to determine if there's anything worth it for you.

 

[barkley]

No. It is definitely not worth it.

You would have to check the ads usually a day or two before The specials are usually very limited in quantity. And the stores will be total madhouses. Generally if you are not there within ten minutes of the store opening you will not be able to get anything. And you may not know in what part of the store the items you are looking for is.

10 minutes after opening? try a few hours BEFORE opening

the one and only time i decided to check out a black friday sale it was only because i made the mistake of drinking to much coffee thanksgiving nite and ended up with insomnia. we had a walmart nearby that was doing a one of those black friday sales that starts at like 3 in the morning. i bundled up and headed over around 2:45-the line outside the door was INSANE. i talked to some of the staff and they said people traditionaly start lining up a couple of hours ahead of time-they end up having to shut the store to the public at the 2 hour mark because in previous years they caught hell from the fire department because droves of people would be standing in the walkways (behind the yellow tape they had to put up to keep people from snagging the merchandise earlier in the day and trying to hide it elsewhere in the store to retrieve when the sale period hits).

a friend is a seasoned black friday shopper-hers are planned out like people here plan out wdw trips-she drops one family member off at each location early enough to secure a place in line then plants herself at the location that tends to have the least early comers, all to be retrieved later in the morning (she was THU-RILLED when her kids got old enough that they could handle being dropped off to do a share of the shopping).

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Hello American Friends,

Please tell me if taking a day off work and coming down to Buffalo for Black Friday is worth it? I am specifically looking for an itouch. Do they go on sale? We don't have anything like Black Friday in Canada. We have boxing day sales after Christmas but I don't think it rivals your Black Friday. Of course I have only seen the chaos on television so I know not every shop is what they show on the news.

The iPod touch is $225 at Target on Black Friday, but they'll give you a $30 gift card for buying it. Toys R Us is opening at 10 PM on Thanksgiving - they have it for $229 with a $50 gift card for purchasing it.

Apple doesn't allow discounts on their products through some nefarious means or another, so retailers compensate by giving away gift cards. You'll have to figure out if it's worth it to you. The advance info on the sales is readily available this time of year on the internet.

I will be out shopping at oh-my-goodness thirty, but it's more of a tradition thing. Plus DH takes me out for a nice breakfast after we run around like shopping maniacs. We follow Disney strategy sometimes, too. I remember one year everyone else was going in the left door and we went in and out of the right before anyone even realized it was open.

 

[Nancy]

Since our malls and store parking lots are filled with Canadian shoppers on Black Friday and the rest of the weekend, I would guess that your fellow countrymen think it is worth it.

It's a matter of perspective I guess. By the time you pay for gas, travel time (getting up way before the crack of dawn) to be here standing in line hours before a store opens is worth it to save some money then go for it. I used to think it was worth it, but now that I am older...not so much, and I live here.

 

[wdwiala]

Not worth it. And, no, the iTouch doesn't go on sale. The best you can do is maybe some stores are offering incentives when you buy it; i.e., Apple might give you something for free on the side, Target might give you a $10 gift card, Costco might give you some iTunes giftcards with it.

Last year, on the Monday after Thanksgiving (The day for online sales), Amazon.com put the IPOD Touch on sale for about $20. cheaper than in stores. It is the only time that I have ever seen the IPOD on sale. If anyone can get Apple to bend their rules, it is Amazon. I will be watching again this year to see if they pull it off again.

To answer the OP: Black Friday is not really worth the stress and anxiety. Choose your purchases carefully and watch sales and you will find pleanty of sales other ways.

 

[tasha99]

No. It is definitely not worth it.

You would have to check the ads usually a day or two before The specials are usually very limited in quantity. And the stores will be total madhouses. Generally if you are not there within ten minutes of the store opening you will not be able to get anything. And you may not know in what part of the store the items you are looking for is.

Ten minutes would be wayyyyyy too late for a spectacular bargain. The year I bought my computer on black friday, I got in line at 5 pm ON THANKSGIVING DAY! Yup--right after dinner, I got in line and was 18th in line. I got one of the last computers (we wrote down the names of the people in line and everyone said what they were buying. I knew they had 10 because the ad said so--I got the 8th. People who showed up in line in the middle of the night just wasted their time--they gave vouchers to the people up front and even if the people in the back tried to push up front, they'd have been turned away. Yeah, it was crazy, but I paid less than $200 for a computer, monitor and printer and saved $400. I thought it was worth it and kind of an adventure.)

 

[Agri]

I live here and I would not make the effort unless there was an incredibly good deal that I did not want to miss out on.

You have to be the first in line when most stores open to get the really good deals - most stores are only given a handful of the cheaply priced t.v.s, etc. I have a friend who works at a Wal-Mart and last year they only had 5 of a t.v. that was on sale, so the most of the over a hundred people in line missed out.

Most new technology does not go on sale because the standard price can't be changed. Video game systems and apple products generally fall into this category. You might find a difference of a few dollars between different retailers, but the real 'deal' is what they are offering you for buying it - free games, giftcards, etc.

IMHO, Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving is usually a much better deal. Its the day online retailers have their major sales, as a PP mentioned about amazon.com. Even brick and mortar stores usually have sales on their websites.

Also, this year retailers have been having "Pre-Black Friday" sales. Amazon.com has stuff on sale every Friday until Black Friday. I know other businesses have had them, too, but I am not really shopping for anything this year other than possibly a new laptop.