Black Friday Stories - Long Lines, Fights, Fun, etc.

[danieln7]

Quote from BenJeremy : Well, I have a tale of a search for a Wii on Black Friday - My Mom was intent on scoring a Wii for her Grandson (My youngest child, age 7 at the time) last year. Meijers had announced they'd have them for sale, so her plan was to hit the store at 2am and wait for them to actually go on sale at 5am. At Thanksgiving Dinner, I also noticed that the FYE ad featured pictures of Wii systems prominently, though no mention of actually selling the system. I mentioned this to her in passing, and on the way home, I stopped into a Meijers, and found that at 10pm, there was already a long line of Wii-seekers for an expected supply of 10-20 units. I called up my Mom regarding this, but still, undaunted, she went out anyway to see for herself. Finding several hundred people lined up at a different store when she got there in the morning, she abandoned that idea and went to the mall, remembering what I said about FYE. Entering the mall at 4am through the JC Penney store, she proceeded to the FYE store, grabbed a stool from an aisle vendor booth and waited. Across the mall aisle, people lined up at the GameStop. 5am rolls around... a GameStop manager comes out and tells the large crowd that they only have 11 units, and basically 'tags' the first 11 in line. The rest leave disappointed. Now, at this point, my Mom is wondering if she should say anything to these people, and decides that she'd rather avoid any potential fights in line or falsely getting their hopes up, if the FYE didn't actuakly have them. She's still the only person waiting there. 5:15 rolls around, and the FYE manager comes to enter the store through the front entrance. My Mom asks if they have any Wiis.... "Oh yeah, we have 20 of them" 6am, FYE opens. My Mom is the only person waiting there. She gets the Wii and leaves. No fights, no fuss, no muss. Exiting the store, she mentions to the shoppers milling through the mal that they have Wiis available at FYE. Damn, if I would have realized what it was going to be the situation, I would have told her to buy 5 or 6 of them, and eBayed the extra units. Ah well. A couple of observations: I suspect all stores got an allotment of 20 units, but Meijers and GameStop both had far ess units available at sale time. I really hate this practice, but perhaps it's only fair to offer some units up to the employees that have to be stuck in the store working on BF morning. Also, my Mom was rather amused that people in the GameStop line looked at her like she was crazy for sitting in front of FYE. Definitely a last laugh situation. So remember: hard to find items can sometimes be gotten with a little strategy and "outside the box" thinking.

Great story, glad she got lucky!

[krazeekid7]

Black Friday 2005 fun in a Philly Walmart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyh3egPw7uY

[fyu]

Quote from nbateman : This cracks me up.. My mom walks into Kohl's, gets her items, sees the line is snaking around the store and walks back to Customer Service. She then asks "can i have a price check on this item?". They say sure and she then asks if she can get rung up back there since she's already there, and they say sure. She walks past the line with her bag and receipt and heads out the door.

I do this all the time. Get rung up in the phone department, photo department, and I even got rung up at the deli.

[mrwhite123]

Last BF, I arrived at Fry's Electronics at 2:30 am in the morning to wait in line with my brothers. We were in the line in the parking lot when we got there, but as soon as people started packing up their tents, we were lined right up at the door. So the store opens and I start to see people bum-rush the door. I tell my brothers to get the stuff that I wanted and proceed to stand outside the main door and tell the people that are trying to cut in line to go stand in line like everyone else who's camped out at the store. If they want to cut in line, they would have to go through me (I'm a big guy). Needless to say, I got a lot of thank-you's from the people that waited in line. It sure as heck made me feel good.

And yeah, I didn't get my motherboard combo or my hard drive!

[jbfsu]

... got to BB at 4:00 pm Thurs., thinking we'd be early... there were already 22 people in line that started a line-list. What was really upsetting was a group of 5 people that kept changing shifts.... needless to say by 4:00 a.m that 'group' turned into about 15 people. By midnight the lines wrapped around the store far into the parking lot. Police were called out by 2 am when the crowds got really bad. By 3 am, people were trying to cut left and right, cursing, arguing... it was good we got to know who was up in line with us for the past hours so we recognized strangers and were quick to call on them. People were offering money to cut in line.

Best buy did a horrible, HORRIBLE job with crowd control. It was as if they enjoyed this circus and making the experience as worse as possible. They announced they'd be giving out the vouchers for the limited items (laptops, tvs, cameras, etc)... and would not be using our 'line-list' (which was at that point over 200). Everyone started rushing for the doors to get a voucher when they started passing them out. I saw one guy arrested because he wouldn't get in line (I don't think he understood English when the officers were yelling). I know for a fact that people in the front of the line grabbed every voucher they could AND then turned around and sold them... I know one person sold a VOUCHER for $80 (for the cheaper $200ish laptop)

They started letting us into the store in groups of about 30.... as I was going in a lady grabs my shopping cart that I was already pushing! I let her take it.

[trifenix]

i remember just everyone trying to cut and push through the doors...i dont recommend small people being in the front of the line as i saw a small guy and girl get obliterated by all the fat people. owned.

security didnt do anything and they just laughed at the whole scene. kinda sad imo. then someone starts cursing at me so i curse back...and its like yea meet you outside after i grab my laptop and hdd and get in the long checkout line. lol.

[instep95]

We go to a Best Buy here and next door is a TRU. For several years we take bets on how long it will be before the police show up at TRU. It never fails. The police and at least 1 ambulance arrive right after opening. The worst was the year they were giving away Power Rangers stuff to the first so many in line. It makes for great entertainment while we are in line at BB.

then there was the year I was like 30th in line at BB and a woman thought she was going to push me sideways to get thru the door. Well she was like 5ft tall and about 100lbs. I am somewhat bigger than her. It was like me body checking in a hockey game. She bounced off me and took out a display. People behind me thought it was rather funny. After I found out she was ok I laughed for with them. She was way embarassed to continue shopping.

[onedayatatime]

A few years ago Meijer advertised the Chopper kinds of bicycles for $25. Meijer is open 24 hours so we got there a couple of hours early and got in a very long line next to the bicycle rack. About 5 minutes before the sale was to start they came over the loud speaker and said the line for the bikes was at the service desk and that the first 25 people in line would get them. It was a mad rush to get in line. Well the first person who was in the original line was handicapped and in a scooter so she didn't get to the service desk in time to get the bike and she went insane (I would have as well) and was screaming and demanding the bike. Then a large group of people that were in the front of the original line joined in and Meijer called the police. I left, went to walmart got a bike and price matched it to the meijer ad.

[electrophonic]

one time on friday i felt chills up my neck and down my thumb

[Doodarazumas]

Quote from slyspy98j : Ok...I wont bash you (you dont contribute a darn thing to SD) but do you really think your comments are necessary?

He's layin down the law.

[susiel2]

Many years ago before ebay widely used internet. We were in a small Texas town for thanksgiving. The family got up early day after and caravan style hit the stores we wanted to go to. Surprisingly enough, we got the bf sales we wanted to get. That was one of the biggest Christmases we ever had .
Up until a few years ago i managed in our area to land all the bf deals i wanted.
But the past 2 years lines started appearing thanksgiving day crowds were over whelming and due to my disability hassles with my chair, it just became not a fun prospect for me.
If the day off occurs for hubby we may end up scoping out a small town near by and try that route again. But days of bf shopping in my area are a thing of the past.
Last year i managed some great generic items on line and shipping went well.
Time will tell if online works this year, but at this point i do miss being able to do what i use to be able to do and just glad to read about the silliness now

[fucdemas]

these stories are amazing.i want to see them all in a movie. in fact i think i might write a script!

keep them coming!

are there any stories of friendship or camaraderie? a meeting of the minds across racial/socioeconomic lines?

[jeepdog]

Quote from krazeekid7 : Black Friday 2005 fun in a Philly Walmart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyh3egPw7uY

After watching that video, all I could think is"Well, we didnt give the day its name". And that is exactly why I avoid Black friday "deals". It isnt worth my time to have to put up with the throngs of unwashed animals that really dont have the money to spend, pushing and fighting their way to some new merchandise.

[samven582]

BF 2007: I arrived at bestbuy around 11:00 am. I was fifth in line. Got everything what I wanted.I even sold a few vouchers! This year I will be going earlier

[Pez Pez]

Black Friday brings out all of us from the dead to all of my fellow vets.

Fred Meyer brings out craziness in the Northwest. They have 50% off all socks and flannel sheets, it brings out the best and worst of us. It also opens earlier than everyone else, so a good starting point.