Andrews Family

I know some of you out there have been waiting for the full story on Black Friday this year since I had mentioned before that I was planning to camp out at Best Buy. This year I was shopping for a desktop for Jenny’s Grandma, a desktop for my parents, and a laptop for Jenny’s brother Zach who is graduating from high school this year. Since I had so many ‘orders’, I wanted to make sure that I was in the front of the line to guarantee that I would get what I wanted. So Thursday morning, yes that was Thanksgiving day, before the girls woke up I rolled out to stake out my spot at Best Buy. I swung by the one in the Arboretum first and there were already about 5 people there at 8 AM. So I passed on that one and went straight to the I-35 and Parmer Lane location. There I found a father and son team setting up a tent so that made me 3rd in line. It would have been fun to be first, but it was worth it to have those guys be so happy that someone else was crazy too. Being a Black Friday veteran, I knew that lawn chairs get uncomfortable and that lying in a sleeping bag on concrete isn’t all that pleasant either, so I unloaded my Lazy-Boy recliner and set up shop.

There were record highs the days leading up to Thanksgiving and the day before was up to 90 degrees. Unfortunatly, though, a cold front moved in for Thanksgiving and there was a 10 mph wind the entire time. We had planned on the girls coming to hang out and play for most of the day, but they were only able to stay for 20 minutes or so and drop off McDonald’s for lunch. By noon the line had filled to about 15 which was the minimum number that they had for most of the computers. Most people showed up all excited and spent 15 minutes in the wind before realizing they weren’t prepared for the night and then went walking down to Sears, which was open on Thanksgiving, and bought tents. We had a good time waiting, though, and spent most of the time just standing around talking. The father/son team, Tam and David, kept things lively. When I walked up, I thought Tam looked familiar and it turns out that we both do the same running club on Monday nights. David was about 13 and full of energy. He was excited to hear that I had brought a football. All the guys took turns playing catch with him until our fingers were frozen. It worked out pretty well to end up at that location because the Office Max next door was still under construction so we had port-a-potties available. Some people would go and make a run for food or bathrooms to the nearby McDonalds and others would go sit in their cars to warm up. I’m a purist though and held my spot continously. You might be wondering about what is acceptable. There aren’t any official line rules, so that is why I thought it was worth it to go early to be in the front and not have to worry about people’s friends coming and jumping in line later. But as in past years there really wasn’t much controversy. Someone started a list and wanted the front of the line to keep track of it, but eventually it got lost (oops). Since most people were in their tents at night it was pretty uneventful. The closest thing to a throw-down that we had was when the news vans from two local stations both showed up to broadcast live for the 10 o’clock news. Yeah, that’s right the news guys picked my location. You can check out the video, including the weather report, in our photo album. It got pretty cold for us down here and the wind had some bite to it. I ended up with some windburn on my face and my ears hurt from wearing a stocking hat for so long.

At 3 AM, Best Buy employees came out and went down the line handing out tickets for all of the big deal items. The ticket is a voucher that guarantees you that item as long as you pick it up by 9 AM. This process can be chaotic if you aren’t prepared as the employees aren’t always the best at knowing what it is, how much it is, and may even pass you by if you aren’t watching. My policy is, if you aren’t sure, take the ticket for the item because you can always give it back, but once they are handed out they are gone. This year I made a pretty good haul and got everything I wanted. I got 5 computers - 2 desktops and 3 laptops. If you were paying attention you would know that is two extra laptops. Well you see, they will let you get one ticket for each item. And they had a really good deal on Sony Vaio laptops, one which was just the laptop and the other was with a printer and case. So I got one of each. I’ll keep one and I sold the other one on eBay and made $175. And then if I sell my old laptop I’ll end up with a new laptop for free. Buying 5 computers takes time and it took them 45 minutes to ring everything up and make sure everything was correct. Then I rolled my fully loaded cart (5 computer and 4 printers) through the mob and out to the truck. By then the parking lot was a mess and traffic was horrible. I think camping out for Black Friday deals is crazy, but at least you know you are going to get good deals. However, I have no urge at all to do any shopping on Black Friday where you have to fight crowds. I made it home before the girls were up. In total, I saved 54%, close to $2000 on all of the computers combined.

Don’t miss the videos and pictures in our photo gallery.