BBRoundtable

Oh wow...

Never underestimate the power of idiots in groups All the while, anyone in the know can find comparable deals about any day of the week online with a little effort

I did BF at Best Buy. Aside from a few greaseballs trying to cut in line, there were no incidents. I even managed to get 2 Toshiba blu-ray players for $40@. Got 5 blu-ray movies for $4@ and a 3TB external HDD for $100.
Best Buy and a few other stores have a better crowd-control policy, especially with regard to "door buster" items. Wal-Mart's policy is non-existent, which is why there is ALWAYS a major incident every year. If I DO go there, it isn't until after sunrise, when the worst has already passed. This year, I did, and still ended up with a nice pile of $4 blu-ray movies. I even got all four available seasons of Fringe on DVD for $10@.

I ventured back into the Black Friday crowds again... hitting the 10p run @ Walmart. I went to the same store as last year since they manage to be civilized with the big-ticket items (like the TV's & the iPad) with established lines so only the "Drop & Grab" items are the worst. They also tend to have a fair number of the items in stock, so there's a high probability of success without having to camp out for multiple hours.

The only major incident was somebody jumped the gun on the BluRay players a few minutes before 10p, but the person drop the stack they grabbed a few feet away. They were returned to stack while the staff quickly separate the items (as they had the 3D version mixed in there) before they OK'ed the grab.


The same strategy that my family used worked fairly well, as I had one person in each of the lines for the TV's we wanted & one person (me) as the "floater" to hop in to the line as needed (for restroom run or what not) & grab the item(s) that were just "Drop & Grab" deals. We also avoided the mail register banks for check-out, opting for the Auto & Tire registers for a bit shorter & calmer line... which just happened to be the ideal exit point as well (as we were parked near it).


I managed to get 2 new TV's, a BluRay player & a decent HDMI cable there.


I didn't bother venturing to Best Buy or Target as that's a bit too close the "Hot Zone" (being the mall), where things would get more cut-throat & chaotic... so the probability of some blood loss would be reasonably possible.

Our local Best Buy is located in its own pseudo strip mall. The only major chain store in the immediate area is PETCO. Across the highway is Target, Staples and Dick's, all in the same section....

For me... Best Buy is in the shopping plaza that's next to the mall, so there's only one road that separates them... which happens to be the connected to the off ramps to the Highway (which is just a few miles from the Interstate), so it's a traffic headache there.

Target is located further away (just one exit away from the Mall & Best Buy), but it's connected to the Shopping center w/ Best Buy... so that road would get some traffic as well... so I just avoid it altogether.