Black Friday
11.21.07 - 09:33pm
Well it’s that time of year again. Time to plan out your Black Friday shopping extravaganza and there is no better place to start than here. I’d be wary to call myself a Black Friday shopping pro but I’ve have enough opportunities to grab a little bit of knowledge that I’ll so thoughtfully pass on down to you. For those of you in the dark about Black Friday here is the gist of the deal. The Friday after Thanksgiving most retailers open their doors at ungodly early hours and typically feature sales on select goods with some serious price cuts ranging from 50% to 80% and in some cases free after rebates. Naturally thousands of people flock to all these retailers so in order to get what you want you need a well formed plan.
To start preparing for Black Friday I’d suggest starting tonight. Check out a few of the Black Friday sneak-peek websites like Black Friday Ads and start compiling a list of various items you’d be interested in. I highly suggest grabbing a friend or five for this event and see who wants what. More often than not a few people will want the same object, make note of this. Once you have assembled your list, break it down into various retailers and start checking to see when they open their doors.
Once your hit list is formed, see if you can “trade” items with friends. For example last year I went to Circuit City while my friend went to Best Buy, I purchased a handful of flash drives for him and picked up my monitor while he snagged a MyBook for me while he picked up a digital camera. Doing trades like this makes sure both parties get what they want and divides up the time standing in line. The more the merrier, just save all the receipts and rebates and divy it up at the end of the day.
On Thursday you’ll want to start preparing for Friday with lots of turkey, pumpkin pie, and naps. I’d also suggest putting aside enough turkey to hold you over for the night as you’ll need something to nibble on while you wait. If you are gunning for something that is rather popular like a television or game console then I’d suggest preparing to head out before the sun even sets on Thursday to mark your spot in line. Keep in mind this all can be affected by your locale, in Atlanta 7pm would be a good time to start casing the locations to see if you need to jump in line while 1am may be fine for smaller towns.
Before you head out the door you’ll want a few things to make your night easier. First and foremost will be proper clothing. I, being a college student, am up at all hours of the night and I’ve felt the bite of the weather at 3am but for those of you with a less nocturnal disposition I just suggest bundling up and then bringing some blankets with you. Otherwise you’ll probably want a lawn chair, a thermos of coffee, some spare turkey sandwiches and fixings, and some entertainment. I personally prefer dragging my laptop out with me along with a book, I’ll be boning up on Ruby on Rails on Friday.
Once you jump in line you have two options, if you brought a friend with you then you can swap off shifts for bathroom and coffee breaks otherwise make friends with the guy next to you in line. Offer to go pick up some coffee for him or to watch his stuff, etc. Then all you have to do is wait. Once it gets within 2 hours of opening time the staff will most likely start dispersing various coupons and such to the first hundred or so people in line so it pays to get out early. These coupons are typically meant for high-ticket items like 60″ televisions and computers, if your goal is something cheaper then don’t worry so much.
Once the doors open you need to sprint like there is a 100 pound german shepherd chasing you while you are covered in sausage links and steaks. Run to your highest ticket item first and snag it, if you have a partner then send them to the next item on the list. Make sure to break up your list so that you aren’t criss-crossing the store, plan this step out.
After the initial hour the rush should die down and the items that are left will typically consist of cheap CDs, DVDs, and the useless garbage that others find unappealing. I’d suggest extraditing yourself from the store asap to try and beat the flood and then meeting up with your group to exchange items and cash or arrange future payments for purchased goods. By now the sun should be close to rising and some restaurants should be open, it would be a good time to grab a bite of warm food and then either head to a local mall to browse the goods or head home and play with your new toys.
Besides shopping for yourself Black Friday also presents itself as a great event to purchase stocking stuffers and other cheap gifts for friends. DVDs tend to be well received and tend to be cheap so pick up a handful on your way out. Flash drives are also a nice find, I know I’ll be grabbing as many as I can fit into my shopping cart. Below is the list of things I’m gunning for, feel free to share your list also. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I wish you a successful Black Friday.
- CompUSA Nikon L14 Digital Camera
- Circuit City Samsung 24″ Widescreen Monitor
- Lots and lots of Flash drives, SD cards, and other tidbits.
- Someone to pay for twin 24″ LCDs
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