After watching the Davinci Code last night at BIL's house, it was midnight and I decided to take a quick run out to Best Buy to see what the lines looked like. I had read earlier online that some serious BF'ers were advising people to queue up beginning at 10 pm or earlier. Being my first time making a Best Buy run on Black Friday, I was curious to see how serious the people of Dallas are. I guess I shouldn't have been suprised that at 12:30 am on Black Friday, each Best Buy that I visited had at least 100 people camped out in the entrance with lines snaking from the front door, down the sidewalk, and spilling into the parking lot. WOW. I went home to catch some sleep thinking that I wouldn't have a chance at getting anything on my Best Buy list and re-planned my shopping route for the morning.
My alarm went off at 4:15 am and I rolled out of bed and got ready to leave. My first destination was JC Penney and I had planned on taking DH's truck as I wanted to get my hands on their 7 1/2 foot pre-lit (multi-colored as well as clear lights) tree with remote control for only $118.88. I arrived at JC Penney at about 4:40 am and found myself about 15th in line. Not too shabby. The doors opened at 4:55 am and after receiving my free 2006 Disney miniature snow globe to add to my collection, I followed the couple in front of me who were also hunting for the Sale Tree. Finding the item I was looking for, I dragged the box to the cashier and was the 2nd person in line to pay for my item. The sales woman was quite pleasant and even called to have someone take the tree out to my car. A gentleman soon arrived and, after hoisting the tree on his shoulder, loaded it into the back of DH's Titan. Here's where the big boo-boo of the day happened.....
I backed DH's truck out of the parking spot and noted someone behind me waiting for the spot - it was quite close to the main entrance. As I pulled forward, it became quickly obvious that I was boxed in. Someone had parked their car facing the aisle and had over-parked the space sticking out quite far into the aisle. Cars were parked across the way as well and there was no place for me to go. I rolled down the windows and kindly asked 2 ladies who had just parked to help me navigate my way around this other car. Thankfully I was moving VERY slowly but the my drivers' side bumper just caught the front bumper of the car that was sticking out too far. I remember thinking that DH was going to kill me. I pulled through and parked the car fumbling around in my purse for a pen and pad to leave a note on the other car. As I walked toward the car, the driver angrily asked me what had happened. I pointed out that he left very little room to maneuver around his car because he had over-parked the spot. He replied that it was "too dark" when he had arrived. Of course, his car was the only car in the lot sticking so far into the driving aisle. Long story short.....he insisted on calling 911 which I did only to find out that this had occurred on private property and the police would not respond. We finally just exchanged insurance information and I moved on to my next desination: Wal-Mart.
I really only had one small item to get at Wal-Mart, the Case Logic portable DVD player case. I wanted to replace the kids' cases because the zippers were broken. Unfortunately, I was too late to snag one. If only I hadn't been tied up by that fender bender.....
I moved on to Radio Shack instead and joined the line taking about the 20th position at about 5:30. My mind wandered back to the scene in the JC Penney parking lot. Finally, the doors opened at 6 pm and about 40 people crammed into the small store. Most people seemed to be intent on grabbing the bluetooth headsets. After asking an associate where the noise cancelling headphones were, and not finding them, I got in line to order one online when I found the headphones hanging on the display by the cash registers. I left Radio Shack with 2 pairs of headphones and headed out to Ace Hardware which was not far away.
Arriving at Ace hardware at around 6:20 am, I was the first person in line. The sun was just starting to come up and I was able to more closely examine the drivers' side of DH's car. The scratch was minimal. I didn't see a dent. A handful of people arrived before 7 am (about 5 of us total) and I walked into the store first, easily located the Magnetic Drive Set and Rotary tool and checked out. Most of the other customers were looking for the Curtis portable DVD players for $69.99 but this particular store had not received their shipment of DVD players. Being a seasoned Ace Hardware BF shopper, I knew to ask for the rebate form and an extra copy of the receipt. Had I been a first-time BF shopper, I would have walked out of the store without the correct form because the woman at the cash register had forgotten until I reminded her. I was in the home stretch of my morning and had a few more stops to make...and it was only 7:05 am.
Walgreens was my next stop - I needed to pick up 2 "free" items before making the drive out to Best Buy and picking through the remains of their inventory. With help from the clerk who pointed in a general direction and was not very helpful, I did finally locate the Schick Quattro Razor set for women (with the bonus ipod earplug headset). I then found the Revlon mascara and headed for the check-out line. The woman checking out ahead of me asked about the rebate for her item and the check-out clerk looked at her as though he had no idea what she was talking about. He handed her the Walgreens rebate ad but I quietly advised her to CHECK the ads before leaving to make sure her item was listed. She asked the clerk again where the rebate list was and he pointed out the center of the flyer and she took her purchase and left. Following check-out, I perused the rebate flyer as well but was not surprised to find that my items were not listed. The clerk could not find them either. Finally, the store manager handed me 2 small receipt sized print outs for the special 8 hour rebate sale. These needed to be completed and mailed in. That woman in front of me in line didn't get her rebate print out before she had left. What a shame. Although the clerk was unable to find the rebate information, he did point out an additional coupon in the rebate flyer for $3 off the Schick Quattro razors. The store manager very politely credited me $3.25. Here's how the math went:
Schick Quattro shaving set for women (w/free headphones)............$8.99
Coupon in Walgreens rebate flyer........................................................-$3.00
Rebate print out to be submitted by mail...........................................-$10.00
Hmmmmm............it looks like Walgreens PAID me about $4 to take the razor set. LOL!
At this point I thought I would give Best Buy a try just in case there were a few items left on my list. It was about 7:30 when I arrived at Best Buy - a full 2 1/2 hours after the store had opened. I walked into the store and quickly asked some store clerks where I could my items. I located the Kodak Easy Share C503 digital camera ($79.99) the 7" Westinghouse digital frame ($79.99), and the 15" LCD tv quickly. Seeing the digital frame on display, I decide to buy 2 instead. I was very surprised that I was able to so easily find these items so "late" in the morning. Unfortunately, the eMachines desktop computer ($189.97) and the MAG 17" LCD monitor ($79.99) were already gone. My last item was the Insignia 4 GB mp3/video player. What a cool device. I decided to get the 2 yr protection plan for this item for $19.99.
At this point, I'm pretty pleased with my purchases considering the bumpy start this morning. I notice the Office Depot across the street and decide to stop in hoping it won't be too crowded. Surprsingly, the store is nearly empty and I find the "free" label makers - and snag the last three intending to send the rebates in from home, my office and DH's office. I even purchase all 3 of them using different credit cards. It's now past 8 am and I'm pretty much done with my list....here's the score:
My "Wanted" list from yesterday: 16 items
Items on my list that I did get: 11 items
Not bad considering I never did make it to Staples (didn't know where it was; 2 items on my list) and I did get some "bonus" items (Office Depot).
It's time to go home and see whose up but the shopping is NOT done yet! I pick up my mom and we check out Vista Ridge mall where we make some purchases at The Children's Place (pants and gloves for Rhys) and the Disney Store which was offering an additional 20% off purchases made before 10 am (we walked into the store at 9:45 am). I bought the kids some fleece sweatshirts at only $8 each for our upcoming WDW trip, and a new nightgown for Amina. We did go by Costco but didn't really find anything else we really had to have. As a bonus, we were given a Costco cookbook as we exited. We finally head back home at 11:30 am to Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch.
Overall, another great Black Friday!
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