Black Friday Shopping List

Black Friday is the friday following Thanksgiving where stores open really early with limited quantities of great discounted products. Usually it's older models they want to get rid of, but sometimes you'll find some real gems that are too good to pass up. Even if it means waking up at 4:30am.

Here was our itinerary & shopping list:

BEST BUY 5am
$69.99 Insignia 7in Portable DVD (got it)
$287 Hisense 20" LCD TV (didn't bother since we were hoping to get the LCD TV at Staples)
$169.99 Mag 19in LCD 500:1, 16ms (got it)
$379.99 Toshiba Celeron M 370 Notebook 15in screen, 256MB/40GB, DVD/CDRW, 802.11g, NO rebates (would have been an awesome deal, but they sold out before we got in the store)
$3.99 Minority Report DVD (got it)

We arrived at 10 minutes to 5 and the line waiting to get in was already around the front and side of the building. We didn't have a chance on that laptop.

Circuit City also opened at 5, but we chose Best Buy knowing that any great deals at CC would be gone by the time we made it over there. Here's what we would have tried for:

CIRCUIT CITY 5am
$249.99 Sony 19" HS-Series LCD (nice, but didn't get)
$199.99 TOSHIBA Intel® Celeron® M Processor 370 notebook (w/AOL
subscription, $449 without AOL), 15" screen, 512MB, 60GB, WiFi (didn't get)
$249 Canon CamcorderZR200 (didn't get)
$9.99 Sandisk 512 SD card (didn't get)
$76.99 Nexxtech 7" Portable DVD (backup if we didn't get the one at Best Buy)

After Best Buy we ran across the street to Staples where a line was starting to form around 5:30am. BTW, we just LOVE living in Woodland Hills, CA where you can walk from one electronics store to another.

STAPLES 6am
$199.94 Samsung 19" LCD (didn't need it after we got the one at Best Buy)
$299.94 Olevia 20" LCD monitor/TV (ran out too soon)
$14.94 512MB SanDisk CF or SD (got it)
$59.94 Logitech® cordless Desktop Laser MX 3000 mouse/keyboard (got it)
$4.98 Logitech® Quickcam Chat (didn't bother)

Staples was a little unprepared for the crowds. I think they've never seen this amount of people before. They were understocked on available USB drives and memory cards, and were running back and forth to their inventory closet bringing out new boxes. Someone stole the vouchers for the premium items, so I have no idea if or when they were sold. Then a fight broke out between two shoppers. Yes, this was Staples. A fight in Staples. Hard to believe.

By the time we finished with Staples, we were pretty tired so we decided to skip any more shopping madness. We could have tried CompUSA (which actually opened at MIDNIGHT), Fry's Electronics (someone said it was like molasses there) or Office Depot (which did have a $29.99 1GB USB drive).

We made a quick stop at SportMart which happened to have some good deals (40-50% off on athletic and outdoor clothing) and no crowds.

I do Black Friday's for the experience as well as the deals. It's fun to research who's selling what and what time to go there. Unfortunately too many other people have the same idea, so unless you bring alot of friends and arrive 2 hours early, you're at a disadvantage. I'll rely on the Internet to find my best deals-- without being a ringside spectator.