I’m thinking of going to IKEA that afternoon - but I don’t know about anything that I want that’s on sale.
And since I don’t know about it, I don’t know that I’m wrong
Woohoo! I probably saved 50-60% at Express and picked up some nice new clothes. Black jeans, white buttonup, new t-shirt, pajamas, sweater vest, and $50 off my next $100 purchase.
I love Black Friday!
My Mom is a dedicated Black Friday shopper. According to my Aunt who was going with her this year, she was leaving her house at 2:30 (yes, that’s AM.) to stand in line in the freezing cold for several hours before the stores opened.
I think she gets nuttier (i.e. leaves earlier) every year. When I lived at home she got me up at 5 to go. I mostly complained a lot, but went because it was nice to pick out my own presents. I’ll gladly sacrifice a little sleep and the suprise for getting stuff I know I’ll like.
If I go Christmas shopping in stores at all it will be a weird time like Tuesday morning. Most of my shopping will be online.
Wow, we found some great deals- at one store, it was 20% off the lowest ticketed price, then an additional 50% off that! :eek: I found some great tops/sweaters and a lovely pair of Nine West black riding boots, which is actually what I was hunting for! 
We got home at about 4:00 am this morning. I would do it again.
The stores with the longest lines? Kid clothes and toy stores, Old Navy, Levis, Banana Republic and some hipster places. No real electronics stores at these outlets.
I never did a ‘Black Friday’ before, but had to be at work early today anyway, so I checked out all the ads from the paper yesterday to see what stores/what times, etc.
I can see why some are willing to line up early- one store was offering gift cards to the first 100 shoppers valued at between ten and three hundred dollars, and many stores offered similar incentive to the early birds.
I only went to J C Penney, but got a $200.00 goose down comforter for $80.00 (23 ounce, 350 thread count, Egyptian cotton, damasc {sp?} cover), and some earrings marked $160.00 for $40.00. These were two items I had picked out to give as Christmas presents anyway, so was happy to get a heavy discount.
I usually shop by budget and was on the verge of buying the down comforter from another store that has a perpetual 20% off sale. The one I got at Penney’s is of much better quality and cost the same as the one I was considering from the other store.
Also, I managed to pick a cashier that had no line, so was in and out so quickly, I was even 15minutes early for work!
I got to Sears at 3:55 and was about 40th in line. They opened the doors at 5:00 to let us all in. The toolchest I wanted was right there, and so was a cash register. I was literally the first person to buy anything, and the first person OUT of the store. I think it took longer for me to leave than it did to buy the box; a horde of people was still coming in the doors when I turned away from the register!
I was quite happy, though, to be back in my car at 5:03. I was home by 5:20, and my wife let me sleep until 9:00 until I had to help her reorganize the garage.
Ugh, dislike the whole concept. Is “Buy Nothing Day” not a well-known anti-holiday, or is that just a granola west coast leftie thing?
If I had my druthers I’d pass on the entire holiday giftie thing. I especially hate “Black Friday” as a spectacle, in this media-saturation celebration of “retailers getting into the black,” as if I CARE; Like this whole marketing normalization blitz is meant to indoctrinate me with a sense that my personal happiness is inextricably connected to the ceaseless expansion of capitalist markets and endless consumption of resources, and that Corporation X doing well means that all is right in the world-- that it DESERVES to do well because that is the goal of modern society-- so it’s my civic DUTY to consume more than I need. Meh.
Not trying to threadshit, but one human’s perspective. I’d really rather spend the holidays drunkenly singing silly songs with friends and family.
I spent Thanksgiving with my sister, who really wanted to do the Black Friday thing. She was responsible for waking me, since I didn’t have an alarm clock, and she overslept, so we didn’t actually leave the house until about 5:20 a.m. Destination: Wal-Mart. They opened at 5 a.m.
The store was crowded beyond belief, but I would in no way describe it as a madhouse. We waded through a crowd at the electronics dept. for our goal. A clerk told us, “No, those are in automotive.” We waded through another crowd in automotive. “No, those are in sporting goods.” Got to sporting goods, and, yup, there was the item, so we took our place in line. (One register, but a bifurcated line had developed, and customers were very politely taking turns merging into the register line.)
Lots of good-natured chit-chat among strangers while waiting. We finally got to the register, got our goal item (one each – the one I bought was for myself, not a gift), paid, and left. In and out in 40 minutes.
I guess I’m glad I experienced Black Friday, but I told my sister I couldn’t see doing it again.
For us it’s Boxing Day sales with the loss leaders and line ups all night. A couple of years ago I got a Yamaha receiver and 5 speakers for half off; I was looking for one anyhow. I didn’t line up; I just tumbled out of bed at 7am and rolled over to Best Buy, still stacks of them there. If I can get a TV half off this year, sure, I’ll see if any are still there at 8am
My nephew’s fiance got him up at 3. She was done with her Christmas shopping by 7.
I think there is something malevolent in the water.
Correction: My wife and I went out at 8 am and completed all of our Christmas shopping by noon. 
It turns out my mother in law took the kids for a couple days, so without them around, we had an opportunity to [del]do it in every room of the house[/del] go out and get the shopping done.
We didn’t go to the mall or places where we might get trampled, though.