Just back home from black friday

[Brumeiser]

Well it started last night with Toys R Us. My wife came home empty ended. Waited 2 hours in the rain to get in and by the time she got in all the sale items were gone. We will never shop there again. Meijers at 5am kudos to that store everything we wanted was in stock, and they had plenty of registers open very pleased with them. On to Office Depot again another store not organized. Only 3 registers open and we got everything but a hour wait at the register. Christian book store was 7am and no line no wait. So by 7:15 our shopping is now done and all is left is Christmas stocking so we are about done. How was everyone else shopping today?

 

[KellyWasHere]

Well it started last night with Toys R Us. My wife came home empty ended. Waited 2 hours in the rain to get in and by the time she got in all the sale items were gone. We will never shop there again. Meijers at 5am kudos to that store everything we wanted was in stock, and they had plenty of registers open very pleased with them. On to Office Depot again another store not organized. Only 3 registers open and we got everything but a hour wait at the register. Christian book store was 7am and no line no wait. So by 7:15 our shopping is now done and all is left is Christmas stocking so we are about done. How was everyone else shopping today?

So did we, 2 hours in the rain, but they had everything we wanted. Bugsby, Tag Junior Books, Buzz Wings, Tinkerbell outfit/doll. Were you going for higher profile items? I am very sorry you didn't get what you wanted.

I see you're from Toledo. My grams is from there, she is visiting now and my mom's driving her back today. I'll make sure to tell them that BF was kind of a bust at most stores, in case they were planning to go tonight. I love Meijer, wish we had those out here.

We also went to Target, Walmart, JC Penney, back to Toys R Us. We got everything we wanted except an external hard drive. Target had the best deal and we found that hard drive on Amazon for $20 more. Worth the extra $20 to not have to stand out in the rain AGAIN in a horrendous line.

I thought the rain would deter people, but apparantely not! I shouldn't have been surprised, after all, I was there!!

 

[zoie101]

I started at walmart at 11 pm, stood in line I mean stood. not allowed to sit. or would have been tossed out of line till 5 am. But I got 3 of the 32 inch tvs. plus all the toys I wanted. Then to radio shak for the scanner no line there. then to kmart put the iron down lines waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy to long wasting valuable time. to dunhams then sears and pennies and big lots. I STAYED ON BUDGET NO extras which is a big deal for me.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

DH went to TRU arriving 40 minutes before opening and getting in 20 minutges after opening. He was one of the last to get a cart. He said it was crazy in there with cartless people pushing big boxes down the aisles. He got a bunch of stuff from his list. Only one thing was sold out and another didn't look like the item listed so he skipped it. Pretty good considering.

He did pretty well this morning too starting before 3am at Walmart then Kohls (opening at 3) then Target (by far the craziest he said) then Staples where the laptop he wanted was sold out. They let people in one at a time before opening to buy the electronics they were looking for (not different than giving tickets, I guess.) I bought DH a laptop on amazon's lightening deals this morning so all is well.

DH said they were handing out 5hr energy pouches at Walmart! He saved his until the kids woke him up this morning.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We did great but were not after any big ticket items. Started at 4am and finished up before lunch time. No big ticket items but lots of sales. Got everything on my whole Christmas list except DGS bike as we ran out of room!!!

 

[MSSANDRA]

Oh, we NEVER do TRU. Ours is a disaster on Black Friday. Went once and will never go back. It was awful.

 

[luvsJack]

We started the morning at Target. Waited hour in the rain for opening and another hour inside in electronics but got what I wanted.

Ordered dd a TV online from Walmart before we left. But when I got to Walmart later, I found that they still had most of the big-ticket items that were advertised.

Our area had a LOT more people shopping today than usual. Stores that didn't open until 5 AM had people lining up at 1 AM.

 

[QVCshopper]

I ended up going out on BF. First, the outlets; totally insanity--a line of cars over a mile long. I dropped my sister off and left. Then, Disney at 12am. Very pleasant, not crowded, great deals and CMs. Walmart was next. OK, but surprised by the cops walking around, as well as the random placing of items (toys next to the refrigerated items?). Got sister back from outlets; less crazy by 3. Then, Target, where I got everything I was interested in. They handed out maps, managed the check out line well enough, and had a good amount of items in stock. I didn't go for any of the hot electric deals, though.

 

[delmar411]

Sorry your wife didn't get what she wanted at Toys R Us. Can't really blame the store that they only had limited supplies of things. If it's a must have item, you just have to get in line early and wait for it. DH waited in the rain & sleet for 6hrs at Toys R Us, so we got everything we wanted no issue.

I do agree though that Meijer was fantastic and organized. Very much appreciated.

We did amazingly well this year. I got everything on my lists from each store and the only 2 places we needed to wait in lines were at Toys R Us and then I waited about 90mins at Half Priced Books to get DH the giftcard.

 

[Aliceacc]

I LOVE Black Friday, but I'm not going to put myself into danger to score a TV or something.

So I got to Kohl's at 4, after they had been open an hour. I waited maybe 40 minutes in line. They were incredibly well organized; every single register was being used and each side of the store had a facilitator to get people to the open registers. The aisles were clear and it was easy to move around the store. That was the only line of more than 3 minutes all morning.

From there it was across the parking lot to Old Navy.

Then, at about 6 I hit Target; they had been open for a while and the fistfights over TVs were over. There was no wait; the lady at the register was waiting for me.

Then it was Justice, Hollister (I didn't buy anything-- I hate that place!!! No lights, loud music-- come on, at 7 am it was moms shopping. Be a little accomodating!!!). Then Aeropostale, Disney Store and another Old Navy.

I was home, poorer but happy, by 9 am.

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

This is an update from various family members. My sisiter went to TRU, arrived 10 minutes to open. She got in the store and the check out lines were very confusing. She told her children to put back the items and left. People were still entering as she was leaving. She too, has decided never to do that again.
My daughter arrived home at 4:30 am and had seen my sister at Kohl's. I heard her come in and that woke me up. She said Walmart was handing out donuts, chocolate and 5 hour energy drinks. The only problem she encountered was the check out lines.
I left for Home Depot's $.99 Pointsettias. Passing by Walmart. I got in and got out of Home Depot within minutes. I proceeded to Walmart. I was looking for the $4 fleece pants for the Giving Tree Angel. The check out lines went throughout the store. I went to the service desk to ask if I could check out. And I did. My day is going great. Then on to Kohl's for a price adjustment. There was no one in line at the service desk. I decided to look at a few things and would come back later with my other daughter. I then remebered my older daughter wanted some workout capris. I found what she was interested in. On to purchase the pants and no one was waiting in line. Bath and Body opened at 6:00 am and that was down a few doors. It was within minutes of the doors opening. My older daughter had warned me about her experience with lines out the door. I knew what I wanted, where it was located and was the first customer of the day. This trip was only a hour of my time. I came back home and went back to bed.
By 8:15, three of us were out the door to continue shopping at the outlet mall. This is were my older daughter warned me about Bath and Body. When we arrived at the outlet, it wasn't too bad. Just a typical day crowd. First stop was Old Navy. They had plenty of stock. Bought a few more items for the Angel. Bath and Body lines weren't bad. So, I made a purchase there. I was looking for an older scent, available at outlets only. Eventually, on to another Kohl's for more Angel shopping.
Overall, things couldn't have gone better. Every sales rep I encountered was pleasant and helpful.

 

[neatokimmo]

We went to Walgreens first at 9 to see the half priced toys. My Mom got a laptop toy, art set and playdough set for my little one for $5 each.

We got to Walmart at 9:30 pm to scope things out and decided to just stay, it was packed.

I stood next to the flat griddle things, I knew they were going to be popular. I was the first of like 50 women there lol At midnight I got in the Wii line. It was short because they didn't put it on the map! It did take them 90 minutes to get to me, I was number 20ish. Red Wii, $199 with $50 giftcard, I've wanted one forever! I price matched the playdough from target and bought a coat and Pjs for our angel kid at work. The PJ area was super scary. Oh and I also got two cheap Wii games.

My Mom went nuts. On two trips to WM she got the 32" TV, Kodak Camera, priced matched the Tag reader, the kiddie diggie camera, one the folding chair sets, the luggage, the steam mop, several fleece items, a leapster 2 and I'm sure other things I just can't remember lol

In the past you could find everything you needed in other people's reject piles that they left all over the place. Not this year, people were hanging on to stuff for dear life. I needed a Bissel stick vac but no luck.

I got home at 3, my Mom got home at 8. But it was fun!

 

[IDoDis]

Did all of my BF shopping online starting on Wednesday night. DH went to Target right before closing on Wednesday night and got the 40" TV for $298 and the $19.99 DVD player. He just got back from going in and getting a price adjustment to the BF price which was no problem!

I scored a doorbuster laptop and an x-box game online from Best Buy at 5:15am on Thursday.

Shopped Kohl's online late this morning. I got all of the doorbusters I wanted except for the $3.99 fleece throws which were sold out.

I still have more shopping to do, but got the BF items that I wanted -- all from the comfort of home!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I planned to stay home and do any shopping I needed online, but about 1:00 this afternoon DH says "hey, have you seen any good deals on jeans, I need some." So we headed to Walmart. Right as I walked into the store they had shelves lining the front of the store with sale items and it was fully stocked. I got a box of $15 Legos and a 10 pk of Hot Wheels. Then we headed to mens. They had most of the sale items marked with helium balloons with price points on them, but the Wrangler jeans that were $9 weren't marked. Dh wanted them anyway, we thought they were going to be $15, but they rang up $9 so we were happy. We went to electronics to see about a couple dvd's for DS11's stocking and found 2 that were $1.96, but it was kind of crazy back there so we hurried out of there. We didn't have any longer than usual wait at the register.

At 5am I had to drive by a different Walmart and shopping center to take DS6 to the emergency room (he needed a breathing treatment, he's fine now) and I was very surprised that there wasn't any traffic at all.

 

[KellyWasHere]

The Toys R Us' that let everyone in at once is crazy. I went to one a few years ago and they did that and it was awful. But we went to a different one this year and they were just letting in 200 people at a time. MUCH BETTER. We had to wait out in the rain about 2 hours, but when we did get in it was so calm ... you could push a cart around, and you knew exactly where the line was. Almost like shopping on a regular day.

 

[marie1203]

We went out at 5AM to our mall. We wanted to hit abercrombie and fitch and JCpenney for the snow globe. We got there at got the snow globe no problem. Then we went to A&F and the sales were great 50% off everything plus a $50 gc when you spend $100. We got out with two really big bags and $100 on gc . It wasn't too crowded and the wait to pay was 10 min. Sorry you couldn't get what you wanted.

 

[Robinrs]

Up at 3am for the Walmart online sale. Got 32" TV for my uncle, slow cooker, sewing machine, jacket and stick vacuum, finished at 3:17.

Up and out at 6a to Big Lots. There were about 20 people in the entire store, including the staff! Disappointed in the TV DVD choices, my son is a big fan but there were none he liked. Hoping for Two and a Half Men, no such luck. Let with imitation $5 Snuggie for unc.

Took a chance on Target. As usual, it was well staffed, well stocked and well organized. I picked up some accessories for my employees and then THE MOTHERLODE!!! At least as my son was concerned....

They had a display of TV on DVD right near the cash registers, and there they were, Two and a Half Men, seasons 1-6, reduced from $34.99 to $12.99!! My sister told me to be on the look out for them because she wanted to gift them to him. Yay!!

Next stop, Michaels. I got some lights and yarn for crocheting, used the 25% off everything on sale coupon and the 50% off reg price items and spent a miraculous $9!!

Last stop GameStop. I wanted to check out the XBox with Kinect and had a BALL!! My son's 18th bday is a week after Christmas and this will be his gift, but HE DOESN'T KNOW IT YET... He couldn't stop talking about it all day!!

All in all a GREAT day. Never saw a crowd, never saw a fight, never saw a line.

 

[TEK224]

I overslept and didn't leave the house til 6:15 am. Luckily I wasn't looking for any big ticket items. I went to Kohl's, got eveything I was looking for and checked out with ease. On to Target. Again fund most of what I wanted (only 1-2 things I didn't get) and checked out with no waiting. Then went to Michaels and Walmart - no problems at either. Came home to unload the car and take a break. Left 2 hours later and went to the mall. Picked up a few things in the toy store, went to Barnes & Noble and made it back home.
Got a good amount of shopping done, bought nothing that wasn't on sale (or that I had a coupon for) and stayed within my cash budget (so far).

All in all - a good day!

 

[rszdtrvl]

I finished up all of my shopping (unless we decide to get DS's guitar teacher something - I will probably be in a large shopping mall next weekend) today.

DH told me that he does not care if it is the deal of the century, NO MORE spending money for me!! I always get a bit carried away when it comes to shopping, and I am determined to chill out now.

I got the last of the items we needed today - a bunch of various GC's.

I am wrapped and ready to go!

 

[diznee25]

This was our first time shopping on BF, and we really enjoyed it! We left our apartment around 5:50am and went to Best Buy for a laptop. Waited in line for 1.5 hours, not too bad.

Then on to Target for an exteral hard drive on sale for $69, (this is a gift for DH.) My most exciting purchases at Target were DVDs. We got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Christmas Vacation on Blu-Ray for $12.99 each! At checkout the cashier gave me a free $10 Target gift card because my total purchases were over $100. So that was great.

Later on we ventured out to the mall, and Home Depot. The mall was pretty crowded, we had to park across the street. Home Depot was great, no waiting in lines. We just had to purchase some lights for our Christmas tree.

Forgot to mention that I hit Toys R Us online last night at 10pm to shop for my angel tree child. Every toy I bought was 50% off, so it worked out well!
She got 2 toys, a book, and clothes.

diznee25