Anyone else hittin the malls?

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm just curious how many of you are going to be fellow morning shoppers? I am heading out at 4:00 AM to be at JC Penny when they open their doors at 5. Who else will be out and about in the wee hours of the morning?

 

[QTOFFER]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!! 8O

I hate shopping malls with a passion at the best of times. No force on Earth would get me anywhere near one the day after Thanksgiving!

I heard that some NY store - Best Buy, I think - is going to open at 1AM. This is just insane!

 

[An t-iasg]

I love malls!

But not on Black Friday, and not when it's predicted to be only 14 degrees at 5 am!

My husband will probably go to Staples before 10 am. They have really good prices on internal hard drives (more room for picture storage!)

Let us know what bargains you got!

 

[Tolak]

My wife is. Her & a couple of friends scour the newspaper & online ads, & set up some sort of battle plan. They are waking up at something crazy a.m., I'll be asleep.

 

[ace1uno_00]

I wish i new of some good online sales for aquarium products.


but, actualy going to the mall that early.... i don't need a sweater that bad. lol

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It's 3:48 and we are about to head out. I was too excited to sleep last night so I didn't. It's a ritual for me and my mother. We do it every year. And the malls in St. Louis are not bad until around 10:00, that's why we leave early. I'd rather lose 3 hours of sleep to get that sweater 75% off as a doorbuster. We are serious shoppers today. Last night I made out my excel worksheet with the times that all the stores open, what I am going to buy, and what everyone asked for. I am usually done with all of my Christmas shopping by noon. By 1:00 I am dragging because on Thanksgiving I usually have to do a lot of cooking. Then we drag the tree up from the basement and I put on the lights (6 foot tree with 17 strands of lights) and help decorate the house. Then tonight I will come home and wrap all the stuff that I bought. Can't WAIT!

 

[poppab02]

I went out this morning to buy a few things. Went to Best Buy, Target, and Wal Mart. Target wasn't bad but Wal Mart and Best Buy were outrageous. We didn't even stop at best buy, there were over 500 people in line before it opened. Every year it just gets worse.

 

[Tolak]

It's 10 a.m., the wife is back, with many bags of God knows what. She's on the phone with my sister, they're planning stage II of the attack. I believe it's some sort of 3 pronged pincher maneuver on one of the malls. Some of the battle stories are amazing, what a brave woman.

 

[Jchillin]

Thank goodness my boys are grown now. It was not long ago that I used to venture out and head to Toys R Us.

Pandemonium personified is what we went through...in a matter of hours, toys scattered all over the aisles, incessantly crying and tantrum throwing kids, sales personnel who needed constant injections of Pheno-barbital (do you have any in stock? no, yes, maybe, I don't know, come back tomorrow, etc.)...and lines at the register which backed up into the aisles. 8O

So, no more "Black Friday" shopping trips. I can easily manage spreading my shopping out over the next few weeks. with good planning, I won't be out there on the 18th or the 23rd (other statistically nutty days for shopping).

 

[Tolak]

I have no patience for that insanity. I prefer to wake up early on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning, hit one of the 24 hour joints at 5 a.m. before work. No one there but me, one sleepy clerk, and a few guys with floor scrubbers.

 

[Menagerie]

I will be missing one of the best shopping days of the season, since we're pakcing to move I love a good deal!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I just got home from a 9 hour stint at walmart (working, not shopping). At 3 am, there were already more than 50 people in line. By the time the doors opened at 5 am, there were well over 150 people lined up around the building. I'll have to say though, that I really do love this day. It's so...full of excitement. People are so patient and nice, and kind. Sounds ironic, but it's the truth. Lots of stores had some great deals...but sadly it seems like you had to be in line by 8 pm the night before to get any of them. (Yep, people lined up outside the door at my local walmart at 8 pm Thursday night). I just don't have the guts to do that, especially when it's 17 degrees outside, and a windchill close to 0.

So, best of luck to all who hit the stores today. I hope you come away with some great deals! I think I'm going to go tommorow, and take advantage of the stores that are running 2 day sales.

 

[dianeww]

LOL, this brings to mind my sister-in-law, who heads out early on every "Black Friday". About three years ago, she was at the check-out somewhere after a long day of shopping, and had her credit card declined! She used another card, and upon investigation, found that the credit card company had seen such a high volume of activity on her card that, even though it wasn't reported, they thought it might have been stolen and shut it off! When you think about it, that's a pretty good service!

I, on the other hand, have not left my house today, and I'll get my shopping done eventually.......

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Well I am back. I finished my entire shopping list with the exception of my nephews Fischer Price Baby Touch something or another. It's kind of like Leap Frog...kind of. I was not about to try to find a parking spot at Toys R Us. I'll get it tomorrow morning. It was great though. I ended up $50 under budget and got nicer gifts that I had anticipated. JC Penny was the best with their early bird sales. The crowds weren't bad until about 10:00. That's why we leave early. Until around 9:30 we could grab what we needed, then walk right up to a register and check out. The problem with us shopping so early is that we don't eat breakfast beforehand. Then by 9:00 we are starving. But nothing is open at 9:00. So we had to wait it out until 11:00 and by the time we got our food we felt like we hadn't eaten in days. Next year, we're packing snacks.

 

[rich311k]

Bless you. I wouldn't have gone shopping today for all the tea in China. Today is to relax, put your up feet and eat leftovers. Fortunetly there is wall to wall football to watch on the tube.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We have a tradition in our family. Thanksgiving Day we have lunch with the whole family. After lunch everyone heads to the living room and lays down on the floor/couch/whatever is available. Then after about 30 minutes we grab all the catalogs that my mom has been collecting for the past month. We sit around the coffee table and cut out what we want for Christmas. We put our names and the store that it comes from including size or color information. Then after we're all done, everyone leaves except me and James. We haul up the Christmas tree and put the lights and ornaments on. Then we decorate the rest of the house. My parents come home around 11:00 to a completly decorated house. Then the next morning we get up at 3:00 and get ready for a day full of shopping.

The first year we did the shopping we were gone from 4:00 AM until 10:00 PM. I don't know how we did it. Ever since then we poop out around noon. But I am normally done with all my shopping by 10:00 AM anyways.

The worst place to shop is Toys R Us, Circuit City, and Best Buy. I wouldn't stop at any of those places for ANYTHING. I'll order it online before I do that.

Anyone have any stories?

 

[mrcrazypants05]

I worked at wal-mart today in the electronics department. I worked from 10am-10pm. It was fine after like noon. Still had some calls coming in about our $300 laptops or other blitz items up until 8pm. Which we sold all around 5:30am i heard lol... I picked up a couple of 256mb SD Flash Cards for $13.88 a piece. With my discount... Overall it was pretty fast day... One of the fastest days i've worked. It was fun, but I don't wanna work the early shift that day. lol

 

[Menagerie]

I'm with you, Fishyfanatic--get in early, get out early. Most of the best sales end by noon, but if you're in by 6 (or so), they you can be done within hours! I avoid Walmart, Kmart and Target--since the sales at Macy's and Penny's are usually great. No kids yet, so Toys R Us and the electronic shops have not been an issue.