List any advice you may have

Do all your research the night before or sooner.
Make a list of the stores you want to shop at, and what you are there to buy.
Don't get side tracked.

Save your coupons. If you get some from OfficeMax or some other stores in the mail, be sure to save them in case there's some great item you can't live without.

Make a plan of stores to visit.
research BF opening times and arrange them in order of early to late
Get There EARLY!!

Relax and make it a FUN experience..don't let the crowd get to you - make it part of the experience!

Being able to plan in advance helps you budget your spending as well. Personally, apart from planning, I try to get as much sleep as possible before the "big day" too.

Anyone know if Wal-Mart will be matching competitor BF ads like last year? Considering it's the worst place to BF, it's about an even trade: hectic, but one-stop shopping...

I also like to try to catch BF deals online, too! Dealtaker rocks!

check all the store adds then wait at the store that you find the most you want. Me my mom and sister actually split up have a list of items to grab and meet in a certin spot after we are done and move on to the next store.If you need to make multiple stops at different stores try to limit your time in each one ..


Happy shopping

We have a BF tradition every year...

1. We get up at 4am and get ready
2 Go to JCPenney and wait in line for the free snowglobe
3. Go to KMart and look for deals - they are not as busy as WalMart

My sister and I go bf shopping every year, we would probably be classified as hardcore. Some of our best advice, is to not grab a shopping cart. They just slow you down and trip other people. We have been the first in line at our local Wal-Mart, going on 5 years in a row. People are beginning to show up earlier and earlier though, so this year we'll be there around midnight to wait for the store to open. For first timers, talk to some others (if you can) who have went before, b/c a hot item could be placed anywhere on bf. All of the hot electronics (that wm has pallets of) are always sat in our frozen foods section. Which is great for us, b/c we know right where to go, but sad for others who run to electronics.

1) Bring the ads from competing stores.

2) Make a list the night before of what you want and the item or sku#.

3) Set your coffee maker the night before and have snacks and water in the car.

more tips?

There's the controversial Buy-Return-ReBuy option.
While it may be getting harder to do since a lot of folks have been doing this for years... here's the details.
You buy the item days/weeks before Black Friday (because you know what the deal is from here).
Then on Black Friday, take the item & receipt, and get the difference. If they don't allow that, then return it, and re-buy the same item at the lower price.

I haven't done it, and don't recommend it, but it could be possible.

Sorry for my ignorance, but where can you get coupons for electronics like at Best Buy or Circuit City? Thanks.

I wouldn't recomend this, I did it one year and CC gave me such a hard time!!! Yeah I got the great deal but they had pleanty when I came to return it and I lost out on 1/2 hour of shopping.

My game plan is.....

1. Check out the stores with the best deals the week before, talk with the staff, they will usually tell you if the item you want is in good supply.
2. Stop at the closest stores fisrt. I get to rs @ 6, its a local store so I get all the good deals without the crowds. Then I hit the next best store, usually sears.
3. keep a snack in my purse, the food court is always swamped!!
4. be careful when your putting your great deals in the car. Shoppers aren't the only people out on friday!!!

Happy shopping everyone!

You could always just buy the cheaper item on BF and return the other one a few days later. It is an extra trip to the store, but may be less hassle.

My routine,

1. Buy the Thanksgiving day paper.
2. Make a first pass through the ads and circle items I am interested in.
3. After completed with the first pass, make a second pass and write down two lists - items I will definitely get and items that are a possibility if I have the time.
4. Starting with the 'definitely get' list, determine the plan of attack by store opening time and proximity to each other to get all the things I really want.
5. Compare with the 'maybe' list and see if anything will fit in or should be pushed to later.
6. Let it all sit and later that day take one more pass through the ads to make sure it is what I want and to mentally set the plan in my mind.
7. Take the ads with you if there are not too many or cut them out so you know for sure what you are getting and looking for (model numbers and styles and such).
8. From my experiences, don't worry so much about being first or second. The stores usually have plenty on hand. If you are there when the store opens, chances are good that you will get what you want.
9. Stop by some of the stores that do not advertise much - they usually have some great deals as well.

My experiences on BF have been great!! The people have mostly been friendly. I have almost always got what I wanted the most and had a great day shopping. Plus it is so much fun to get home and unload all the stuff from the car!

that paper comes out on black friday uh? i guess you are not geting the 200$ laptop

We get a paper on Thanksgiving Day here - it has all the Friday ads. Some of the ads are in the Sunday paper before Thanksgiving.

Advice for this years black friday
Night Before
1. this site is reliable, but double check with the Thanksgiving paper
2. plot out your plan of attack, nevermind store hours. I don't do the earliest to latest open equation, i go by the most wanted item to least. besides most stores open around the same time.
3. make a list, of the store you want to visit the best, and what you want from the store.
4. visualize in your minds eye where each item is , so your not darting back and forth like the white ball in a game of Pong. (you want to move like liquid lightening)
5. once you know from front to register where each item is strategically positioned, reorganize the items on your list.
-------------------------------------
1. Get up early, if your store opens at 6am, like mine does, then get up at 4:30 am, and leave by 5am
2. Expect there to be other loonies there way before you get there.
3. Don't lose your mind searching for a cart, they are all in the store. usually
---------------------------
Doors open.
1Walk into store, and grab cart in orderly fashion.
2. Run like hell!, cut through the clothes racks if you need to, run over heels, run over toes, just run!
3.once your items are in the cart, put your coat over the item, and hover over it like a rabid dog!
4. When in line, try not to pass any gas! some guy did it, and i just glared at him, nasty bast*d.

Rules of the Game.
( dont think your gonna be more quick by not grabbing a cart, you never know, you may see an item on sale, and become cumbersome, then miss out on another item or that item itself, trying to get a cart after the fact. and believe me the carts dissapear fast!)
Rule number 2.
pee before you leave the house!, dont waste valuable time the restrooms will be a mad house, and ur items will get lifted whilst you piss. sorry..

This post has been edited by crabbycoly1: Nov 7 2006, 07:19 PM

I have to agree, during the mad dash and the then hault of waiting to pay, I have smelled the oddest smells in my life.

Anyone else from NYC? I need an idea of when I should get in line at Best Buy and Circuit City (family members splitting up at different stores). Last year, I went to WalMart at 3:30 but that turned out to be way too late. The line was already into the other parking lot and my mother wasn't able to get anything on her list. In fact, she didnt get to even go into Walmart until aroun 9 am. Everything good by that time was already gone. I dont want to miscalculate again. While I dont plan on going to Walmart this year (dont think they have anything worth waiting in line for), Circuit City and BestBuy have fantastic deals!!!!

So, what time should we get in line????

I'm in NYC and I will be lining up at the Circuit City next to Roosevelt Field Mall at 11PM-12AM.
Does anyone think they will give out tickets for the 32" Olevia HDTV? Also would they do the same with the XBox 360 with a free game? I figured so because these items are quite heavy and people would fumble around if they ran towards it, picked it up and ran towards the cash register, you know? They would just bump into another person because of the weight and there would be bodies on the floor (lol).
What do they usually give tickets out on? I dont want to be dissapointed if I don't get my items because of simple little things, you know?

I also go to JCPenney to get the Snowglobe, then its off to Best Buy, Target and Circuit City!

Here's my two cents worth of Advice.

When you go on your "Raid" BRING A COPY OF THE AD WITH YOU! It will come in handy in the event of a Dispute. Last Year when I got to Circuit City (My 4th store BTW) There were some people arguing with a couple of Store Clerks, who were claiming they had to have a Coupon (Which they said was delivered in the Mail) in order to purchase certain items. Scanning My Ad I saw NOTHING about having to have a Coupon in order to get the items. I "Made Some Noise" and the Manager, came over to investigate. It turned out the Clerks were DELIBERATELY "Holding" certain pieces of Merchandise, waiting for their friends to come over and get the items. Needless to say the Manager fired both of them on the spot, and had Security escort them out of the Store. (All of us got the items we wanted! )

Happy Hunting!

My BF experience is in metro area where our Walmarts are 24hrs. They start bringing the palletes of Blitz items at midnight, but they cord them off from customers. In 2004, they had their workers wait until 5am to let people begin grabbing. Last year, 2005, all the pallets were there,but no one was guarding them. It was such a civilized experience because people were grabbing the electronics or whatever, but everyone was very calm. The only problem was the line for the lap tops was obscured by the line for the layaway, so people were getting in the wrong line and when they found out they were-it was already too late because of the limited supply.

my advice in this- don't be afraid to speak up- don't assume anything.

24hr Supercenters are great because you don't have to wait out in the cold and you have time to plan logistically a bit better.

"24hr Supercenters are great because you don't have to wait out in the cold and you have time to plan logistically a bit better. "
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Mine is normally a 24 hr Supercenter, but on Thanksgiving, they close at midnight and don't reopen until 5am. They have never handed out tickets, either. It seems like ever year they do something different.

One year, we had to stand in line for the item that we wanted most. Most years, they open the door at 5am, then you have to run and stand in line at electronics b/c the limited items are kept behind the counter.

I really hope they give out tickets this year. I think it would stop a lot of the chaos. People would still run, but they wouldn't trample you to get to electronics first.

This post has been edited by amandas04: Nov 20 2006, 11:23 AM

We have a little g