Black Friday

[zahc]

Anyone get any deals? My wife and I got up at 5am and went to Academy. There was a line there and they didn't let everyone rush in; they asked what you were going for and gave you a ticket as long as there was inventory. I got a Rossi 357 magnum stubby for $199 and a Heritage Arms .22LR revolver for $99. I'd been looking for a cheap revolver for around $200 but never found a used one that cheap so I figured it will make a good tackle box gun.

[mtnbkr]

No hot deals here.  In general, all of the stuff on sale that I was interested in was only on sale for a modest discount.  Gun-wise, there wasn't much, but I did get 2k rounds of 22lr for $15/500.  That isn't a hot deal compared to a few years ago, but pretty decent these days.  I got my oldest daughter (7yo) a pink Daisy Red Ryder BB gun.  They're normally $40, it was on sale for $25.  I also got a small MP3 player for my youngest daughter (2yo and loves music) and a tabletop stereo with Ipod dock for my oldest.  Wifey is handling the "girly" gifts for those two. 

While not a "Black Friday deal" (purchased Wed night), I did find a cut-down Mossberg 500 barrel for the "house gun" I'm building.  Factory short barrels are $90, I got this one for $50.  Whoever cut it did a decent job.  It measures out at 20". Now I just need that thing that goes up and I'll be set.

I ordered a set of Sack Peterson stag grips for my Bearcat.  He currently has them on sale for $75.  I'll probably slip them to my wife so the girls can wrap and give them to me for Christmas.

Chris

[Fly320s]

Black Friday shopping?  Are you nuts?!

I'm hunkered down with my black rifle to keep my sanity.  If all goes well, I won't leave the house today.

[mtnbkr]

Black Friday shopping?  Are you nuts?!

I'm hunkered down with my black rifle to keep my sanity.  If all goes well, I won't leave the house today.

None of the stores I went to were crowded.  In fact, a couple of them were quieter than normal.  Wifey and MIL reported the same.  Either folks got started way early or things are really bad in retail right now.

Chris

[zahc]

Well, Academy was fairly civilized. The line to get in was probably 50 yards long and a couple wide, but that's not much more than a storeful really. I was out of there within an hour and that includes the paperwork and nics and being walked out of the store (buying guns gets you priority treatment).

After that we went to Kohl's for the woman. The checkout line there was insane, definitely multiple hours long, and they were out of what we wanted. We went to another more rural Kohl's and the checkout lines were very short and they had what we wanted (silverware). Sears was apparently uncrowded as well because my wife was in and out in like 20 minutes with several confidental presents for me. The Walmart parking lot was completely jam-packed even at 5am.

[Jamisjockey]

I did a little shopping. Wife sent me on a fool's errand to Toys R us.  It was marginally civil. 
Wife scored a deal at 1pm when they were restocking the stuff that gets moved around the store.  Dual DVD player for the car, straps to the headrests, normally $159, $85 black friday sale.

[BridgeRunner]

I Just finished working out--the gym is at one of the biggest local shopping centers. At about 11am the parking lot was about 1/3 full.  Looks like I'm not the only person in Mid-Michigan having a crappy year.  Not that that's big news, but further verification.

[Gowen]

This is not meant to thread poop, but "BLACK FRIDAY" is getting way overused.  I saw an ad for "BLACK FRIDAY" deal at a bank.  Give it a rest.  The only thing that my wife and I wanted from the store was some plastic storage totes from Lowes.  It showed online that the Lowes by us only go in 22, so what's the point.  I didn't get home from work until after 11 today, so there is no way we could get any.

[White Horseradish]

I have my own BF tradition. This is the second (and maybe even third) year I volunteer to staff the office at work. I get two days off for this and I get to enable some of those people out shopping by making sure warehouses stay running.

[Laurent du Var]

FWIW Horseradish, I didn't forget about yoou, I just didn't make it to the stand much but I'll get your info!

Black Friday? don't know what it means but if its lik the "soldes" meaning cheapp stuff to empty out the stock I wouldn't go there.... 

[AJ Dual]

Gander Mountain had UMC 250 round packs of 9mm for $49.99, which is pretty good considering anyplace better has it online, and will cost a fair chunk of shipping.

If we were out and about, I'd probably have sprung for that, because I'm low on handgun ammo right now. But we're staying in.

If the deal is still on next week, (and they have any) I might pick up one or two of those.

[White Horseradish]

FWIW Horseradish, I didn't forget about yoou, I just didn't make it to the stand much but I'll get your info!

I figured it was something like that. I really would like to get that old gun running so I can be all cool like Roger Moore. 

Funny, I can't think of ever seeing that pistol in a French movie. Most I have seen have been 1970's vintage and they were all about revolvers. Well, except that one where Pierre Richard was being a moron with a PPK... :)

Black Friday? don't know what it means but if its lik the "soldes" meaning cheapp stuff to empty out the stock I wouldn't go there.... 

It's supposed to be the start of the holiday shopping season. Basically, it's a kind of an apotheosis of consumption, hordes buying crap, a stampeding herd of wallet carriers. People have been trampled to death on this day.   

[Perd Hapley]

FWIW Horseradish, I didn't forget about yoou, I just didn't make it to the stand much but I'll get your info!

Black Friday? don't know what it means but if its lik the "soldes" meaning cheapp stuff to empty out the stock I wouldn't go there.... 

Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. The day after that is "traditionally" the beginning of the Christmas gift shopping season. According to lore, American retailers operate "in the red" until Black Friday gives them a positive balance sheet. In accounting, expenses are written in red, and profits in black. Or something like that. Do they do the red/black thing in France?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping

[HankB]

Last couple of years I went to Best Buy for PC software that was on sale - each year by midmorning, the local suburban BB was busy, but not crowded, and I was able to be in and out in 15 minutes. This year, looked at their ad . . . nada. Nothing I was interested in.

Ditto for all the regular department stores and such . . . as usual. (Sorry, I'm not going to spend hours in line and in crowds to save $10 on a pair of pants.) Sadly, the pressure washer I've been considering at Home Depot still hasn't gone on sale.   

I went to Cabela's early this week - they had Federal American Eagle .223 on sale for $5.99/box (Cabela's retail store will price match the Cabela's website) but I had a couple of coupons and some Cabela's bucks, so I got a couple of hundred rounds for a little under $4/box, plus tax. Combined that with a trip to Borders (They sent me a $10 coupon "just because") and another side trip or two.

BTW, if you live anywhere near a Cabela's, join Cabela's Club, if only for the coupons they send . . . despite their routinely high prices, if you combine coupons with Cabela's Bucks and sales, you can sometimes work a deal.

[MechAg94]

My Dad and I went over to a new gun store near Brenham, TX (Independence Firearms) which is at the same location as www.ammunitiontogo.com.  They had a lot of stuff.  I just picked up a few 50 round boxes of Speer Gold Dot HP's.  There wasn't a lot of room, but it was pretty packed and their parking lot was filling up further when we left.  That town was pretty busy.

[lee n. field]

Gander Mountain listed some interesting stuff.  

But

• I've yet to see GM actually have sale guns I want on hand.  I suppose these days I could order online through them.
• I've got about $20 to last till next Friday.
• #3 son has had the car for, like, the last 3 months, and brings it home when he feels like it, which isn't often.
• GM is on the far side of the next city over -- two 80 mile trips.
• the one I'd be most interested in is specifically coming with gelded Californica magazines.
  
• grumble, grumble, grumble

Our office manager got a closer store to price match GM's B.F. price on the S&W Bodyguard .380.  Nice to know they can be persuaded to do that.  (Interesting piece, BTW.  As I suspected, another sort-of clone of a Kel Tec, but better executed.) 

Shorter answer is, no, we don't tend to make such a big deal about Christmas shopping.  I've actually gone BF shopping only a couple times, when I saw an exceptional deal on something I wanted.

[BobR]

My Black Friday shopping consisted of visitmg a few websites to see if they had anything interesting. They didn't, I didn't spend any money. I wonder how many people buy crap they don't really want or need just because they think it is a great deal?

Kind of like when I buy something and the cute little girl says "you just saved 4 dollars and 12 cents", and then I reply I just spent x amount of dollars..didn't really save anything. I think I have officially become a curmudgeon.

bob

[go_bang]

I bought milk, eggs, and frozen chimichangas.  That was pretty much the extent of my BF shopping.

[Laurent du Var]

Wiki: On Friday, November 28, 2008, Jdimytai Damour, a worker at a Walmart in Valley Stream, New York was trampled to death by shoppers who broke through the store's glass doors minutes before the store's scheduled opening at 5:00 a.m.;[3] a pregnant mother was hospitalized from injuries in the same human "stampede", though early reports of a resultant miscarriage were determined to be in error.[4] On that same day, two people in Palm Desert, California, were shot and killed in a Toys "R" Us store during an argument[5]

Sounds like a fun day. We don't have a BF in France but the red and black for bookkeeping is fairly common.
I've been in the red up to my backteeth since 2001 and still counting.

BF doesn't make sense to me, wouldn't you keep the high prices before the holidays when everybody needs to
buy gifts for X-mas and reduce prices three weeks after the 25th when people are done turning stuff in they never wanted in the first place?

What is annoying me is that Advent before Christmas is ruined with commercial BS even keeping the malls and shops now open on sundays.

Oh and I'd love me some chimichangas.

[eyebrows]

Steam has been running a rotating sale since yesterday. I picked up "Batman AA GOTY" and "Burnout Paradise: the ultimate box"(I have no idea why it's called the ultimate box ) for $10 and $15.
So far I'm really enjoying burnout, its a kickass game and still on sale if you like racing/stunt games.
Also picked up "Bully" from D2D for $3.50.

Old lady is at her parents, it's to cold for minibiking, and I just massively upgraded my PC sound set up yesterday... guess what I'll be doing this weekend 

[Monkeyleg]

For online stores, the big day is Black Monday. I had record traffic on Black Friday to my site, but just one sale. Black Monday had better be good.

[Jamisjockey]

Most BF sales are bait and switch deals. 

[mtnbkr]

Most BF sales are bait and switch deals.  

Just the really insane ones such as $200 laptops and huge $300 LCD TVs.  The more pedestrian stuff is as advertised and in plentiful quantities.  The crazy stuff is there to get you in the store so you'll buy other things because you're there already. 

Dad was a retail manager...

Chris

[Thor]

I bought a few small things from Newegg. Never left the house. I don't go out to the stores because they're usually rife with aggressive, mean and contemptuous shoppers.

[Perd Hapley]

Wiki: On Friday, November 28, 2008, Jdimytai Damour, a worker at a Walmart in Valley Stream, New York was trampled to death by shoppers who broke through the store's glass doors minutes before the store's scheduled opening at 5:00 a.m.;[3] a pregnant mother was hospitalized from injuries in the same human "stampede", though early reports of a resultant miscarriage were determined to be in error.[4] On that same day, two people in Palm Desert, California, were shot and killed in a Toys "R" Us store during an argument[5]

Sounds like a fun day. We don't have a BF in France but the red and black for bookkeeping is fairly common.
I've been in the red up to my backteeth since 2001 and still counting.

BF doesn't make sense to me, wouldn't you keep the high prices before the holidays when everybody needs to
buy gifts for X-mas and reduce prices three weeks after the 25th when people are done turning stuff in they never wanted in the first place?

What is annoying me is that Advent before Christmas is ruined with commercial BS even keeping the malls and shops now open on sundays.

Oh and I'd love me some chimichangas.

Put me down for the frozen chimis as well. We only have one left in the freezer right now. I understand your reasoning about raising prices prior to Christmas, but you can't argue with the record-breaking (door-breaking, stampeding) crowds that are brought in by all the low prices. There ARE a lot of low prices the week after Christmas, but I've only ever noticed that on items that don't hold their value - Christmas decorations, Santa Claus-shaped cookies, etc.