7 Comments Written by dmeemai on November 25, 2007 – 9:10 am  Email This Post popping..

Thanksgiving Day 2007 in pictures

 

I was telling you guys about how great Black Friday is having crazily participated for 4 years. However, this year I’ve noticed a HUGE change which may impact my attendance next year! The consumers have changed the rules and it’s beyond my comprehension! After Thanksgiving Dinner around 8pm, I decided for kicks to stop by the shopping area even though I know all the stores are **closed, just to confirm the chitchats during the party that as early as noon, people are setting up tents outside the store to camp out!

Thanksgiving Day 2007: Circuit City @ 8:00pm

@ 2:30 am!! The First group in line. I hate you guys!! Lol

Black Friday madness continues…

To my horror, there were in fact tents by the side of the store!! All of a sudden the shopping mall looked like a camping ground or more like a place where homeless people go. So it was true, the first group on the line were guarding their spot since noon! One was buying a 50″ LCD HDTV and the other, a 32″ which would save them about $500. The other, the $300 laptop I was also eyeing! There were about 20 tents there and about 50 people. They gave up their traditional Thanksgiving holiday to sit out in the cold and wait 17 hours.

Circuit City @ 3:00 am: Camping out for Black Friday Sale

The line stretches out to 8 stores and counting…

I went home quite disappointed yet resigned to the fact that I am not going to get that notebook I was gonna give to my sister. I spent my night looking for good stuff online, bought some and even managed to watch a movie and then it was time to head to the store at 2:30 in the morning. I am crazy for still going out as early as I did but I’ve waited 4 hours for a standing only tickets for the musical Jersey Boys in New York, I can handle 2 and a half hours easy. I’m just NOT going to wait 17 hours! Though I did not sleep through out the night, I was warm and cozy at home and I get to do other stuff- beats lying on a cold pavement, staring at a nylon tent.

The Best Buy Line @ 4:00 am. Am not sure why Best Buy draws this kind of line when only the first 20
or 30 people actually get the better stuff. The rest are so-so…

Overall, I’m still pretty happy with my finds! I bought a colored laser printer for $120 (originally $250), 2 500GB external hard drive for $100 each (was $180 each), Magellan GPS for $125.00 (regular tag $300.00), DVD TV sets for $12.00 ($50.00 tag), DVD-Rs for 5 bucks (from $30), Belkin hubs for $6.00 (from $30). I’m still on the look out for a good Laptop price and I will continue till Monday for another major sale, this time exclusive from online retailers which they dub as CyberMonday. If you’re interested to check out prices on specific items or to buy, I suggest Amazon, Circuit City, Staples, Officemax and CompUsa. Those are the sites I usually visit!

How far are you willing to go to get an item at the price you want on Black Fridays? Would you miss the special holiday, skip meeting family, instead camp out and spend a cold night outside the store? Or are you going to get a good meal in, have small talks with family, and stay home surfing for finds online in your pjs? What’s worth your while? How much does your time cost? When you break it down to say the $500.00 saving for a TV- their waiting time costs about $30.00 an hour. I guess if you’re earning $10.00 an hour in your day job- 17 hours certainly is worth your time! As for me, maybe I’ll give it one more try next year. I will not skip Black Friday but I am NOT spending 17 hours for it plus about 8 hours of shopping. I realized that night, I maybe a shopaholic but I am not that desperate for a bargain…

*The only 2 days ALL the stores are closed in America are Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, no Holy Week holidays.

© 2007