Surviving Black Friday

Over the years I have been to quite a few Black Friday sales... but this year was a totally new experience. Since my Dell Inspiron died earlier this year, I have been anticipating the notorious sales of this day to replace it. Well it didn't quite die, just the screen went out and I have had it looked at twice and each time I was told it would cost approximately $400 to repair. Of course this manufacturer defect didn't happen till after my warranty was over (BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN BUYING DELLS... I know of 3 other screens that went out). So after researching the Black Friday sales courtesy of the number of websites dedicated to posting all the ads before they are released, I decided that Best Buy would be the start of my Friday morning.

Best Buy had advertised an HP for $374 and a Sony for $599. And it was my goal to secure one of those laptops. The Best Buy ad also stated that the doors would open at 5am however they would start passing out tickets for the advertised specials at 4am. So I was thinking ok getting there around 2.. 230am would be fine. Well of course I was wrong. I arrived at Best Buy in Hoover, AL (I was in Birmingham with my mom for the holiday) at 230am only to see the line stretch past 3 additional stores. After debating whether to go home or stay for about 5 minutes and seeing the line still growing I decided to stay. Who would have ever thought so many people in Alabama would be going after these damn laptops.

I will say that the Best Buy handled the sale very well. Only letting in the first 100 people, then 10 people at a time till they reached their 375 capacity limit diffused the trampling often seen on the local news. Another line to get into the computer section prevented the workers from being overwhelmed while at the same time giving every customer personal attention.

Needless to say I didn't get either of the advertised laptops. While in the checkout line I had the opportunity to talk to #4 and #5 of the original line who told me they had been outside since 1pm Thanksgiving afternoon. (not that serious for me). However they scored 6 laptops between them.

After checking out I went buy Circuit City which was a mad house and I quickly retreated back to my truck and hit it to WalMart to score a TV for my mother. I was quite surprised at how empty WalMart was. I have heard the stories but I think since WalMart decided to only advertise online this year it really hurt their usual crowds. I talked to 4 other friends that all hit Best Buy early in the morning... only one got the advertised $599 Sony laptop but my purchase was a better computer for a $100 more.

All said I was back home and back in bed around 830am. With my $5.99 Janet CD, my $699 Laptop and a new tv for moms. Would I do the early morning again.... na not worth it.