The Ultimate Guide to Black Friday: Beat Best Buy, Trash Target, & Wallop Wal-Mart

by Michael Geslani on November 21, 2007 at 11:04 pm

Last year, approximately 137 million people shopped on the weekend after Thanksgiving according to the National Retail Federation. Well, this year reports are saying that it may be more, with NRF reporting that 77 million may be shopping on the starting day, Black Friday.

Black Friday is the first day of shopping for the holiday season. Prices are slashed and deals can be too tough to pass up. Deals that are called “loss leaders,” are used as a tactic to draw customers in. “Loss leaders” is the term for a marketing strategy where retailers will sell products well under cost to lure in customers.

Stores each have their own strategies, and many of the deals you see are too good to be true - and they are. For example, a retail store’s “loss leader” may be that 50” LCD HDTV they offer for $900, but the problem is they will only have so many (usually less than 10), causing hideous lines wrapped around the store.

To help our Ripten readers, we have compiled a list to easily navigate which stores have what gaming items and the difficulty obtaining such items.

RED: Get off your ass and get there early, son! These deals are the “loss leaders” and most stores have limited amounts. Maybe they have 50 - until you realize they are giving out tickets to the first people in line who came to purchase them. Line up ASAP, possibly right after you stuff yourself full of turkey. These items are usually only available during the select “door busters” hours - 5 to 10 a.m.

BLACK: Slow down! These will probably be there after the first mob of people enter the store. Be aware that these items may be picked up fairly quickly and aren’t marked down too much.

BLUE: Sleep in! These will probably be there chillin’ like a villain, waiting for you to come pick them up like a bad habit. These items may be there even after the first day.

KEY: Mail-in-rebate (MIR), Door Buster (Limited Time)

Best Buy: Opens 5 a.m., line up early, possibly the night before.

HP 42” 1080p LCD HDTV $996.99

PC Bioshock or Half-Life 2 Orange Box $24.99

PS3 40GB Spider-Man Blu-ray w/ NBA 08 and Open Season Blu-ray $399.99

Xbox 360 Pro w/ Free Guitar Hero II pack (game & guitar controller) $349.99

DS Lite w/ free Nintendo DS Lite Starter Kit and Over the Hedge game - Metallic base w/ Nintendogs Best Friends or Sold w/ Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass $149.99

Assorted Nintendo Wii games - Resident Evil 4, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Brunswick Pro Bowling, Rapala Tournament Fishing $19.99

PC Guild Wars or World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online $9.99

Panasonic 42” 720p Plasma $899.99

Dynex 37” 720p LCD HDTV $629.99

Samsung 22” LCD Widescreen Monitor $199.99

Envision 22” LCD Widescreen Monitor $149.99

VisionTek HD2600 512MB DX10 PCI-E or AGP Graphics Card $99.99

Circuit City: Opens 5 a.m., line up early, possibly the night before.

Wii Mario Galaxy $34.99

PC Half-Life 2 Orange Box $34.99

Western Digital 1TB My Book Essental External USB Hard Drive after $50 MIR $199.99

Xbox 360 Pro w/ 2 free games (Ultimate Alliance/Forza 2) & wireless control $349.99

PS3 40GB Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray w/ free wireless controller & 5 free Blu-ray movies $399.99

DS Lite - Metallic base w/ Nintendogs Best Friends or Sold w/ Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass $139.99

PS2 Bundle w/ free controller $129

PSP Core System $169.99

Wii Mario Strikers w/ $10 gift card $49.99

Wii Wheel or Wii Remote & Nunchuck Gloves $2.99

Xbox 360 Halo 3 or Assassins Creed - receive free $10 gift card $59.99

Guitar Hero 2 Bundle Xbox 360 or PS2 $59.99

PS2 Madden 08 $14.99

Assorted Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS games $9.99

Assorted PS2, Xbox, GB Advance games $4.99

PC Sims 2 or Sims 2 Celebration Stuff $4.99

Samsung 24” HD LCD Widescreen Monitor after $129 MIR $329.99

Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD HDTV $1299

Samsung 50” slim DLP HDTV $799.99

Zenith 50” Plasma HDTV $999.99

Panasonic 42” Plasma HDTV $999

Polaroid 40” LCD HDTV $699

CompUSA: Opens 5 a.m., not much here

Olevia 37” 720p LCD HDTV (Available Thanksgiving Day, store open from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.) $599.99

Xbox 360 Pro Bundle (Ultimte Alliance/Forza 2) and free wireless controller $349.99

Acer 24” Widescreen LCD after $110 savings and $80 MIR $249.99

Costco: Opens 9 a.m., you can go here after other stores, but the TV is worth it to come early

Vizio 50” 1080i Plasma HDTV $999.99

KB Toys: Opens 5 a.m., will sell out quick

Buy one get one free entire stock of video games

K-Mart: Opens 6 a.m., don’t even bother

Xbox 360 Half-Life 2 Orange Box $39.99

Xbox 360 Madden 08 or NBA Live 08 $49.99

Meijer: Opens 5 a.m., don’t even go here

$40 off a Nintendo Wii with purchase of gfm Wii controller Nunchuck skin and Crash of the Titans

Xbox 360 Pro (Refurb) $229

Assorted Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 games 50% off

Micro Center: Opens 6 a.m., not bad

EVGA e-Geforce 8600 GTS 256MB PCI-E Graphics Card $99.99

PC World of Warcraft $9.99

PC World of Warcraft Battle Chest $19.99

Office Depot: Opens 6 a.m., good screens

Acer 24” LCD Widescreen monitor $279.99

Olevia 42” LCD HDTV $699.99

Olevia 37” LCD HDTV $649.99

Office Max: Opens 7 a.m., cheapest 24” and not bad quality

SOYO 24” Widescreen LCD monitor $249.99

Sears: Opens 5 a.m., line up real early if you want a new TV

Sylvania 42” Full 1080p LCD HDTV $899.99

LG 42” Plasma HDTV $899.99

Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV $999.99

Target: Opens 6 a.m., same applies to Best Buy

Xbox 360 Halo 3 Edition - Free $60 gift card with purchase $399.99

Olevia 37” 1080i LCD HDTV $549

DS Lite Bundle - Metallic base w/ Nintendogs Best Friends or Sold w/ Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass - Free $10 gift card with purchase $149.99

Xbox 360 - Choose from Call of Duty 4, Half-Life 2 Orange Box $48

Xbox 360 Gears of War $38

Toys R Us: Opens 5 a.m., had a better deal before Thanksgiving on buy 2 games get 1 free

50% off any Nintendo DS accessory when you buy a DS Bundle

PS2 Wireless Rock Guitar $19.99

Buy 1 get 1 50% off on any Xbox or Gamecube title

Wal-Mart: Opens 5 a.m., all right but not great

42” Polaroid 1080p LCD HDTV $798

PS2 Bundle, 2 controllers (1 rumble, 1 non-rumble), ATV 4 video game $129

PS2 Guitar Hero I and II Bundle $39.82

EA Sports Video Game Assortment - Choose from Tiger Woods 08, NASCAR 08, NCAA 08, NBA Live 08 or Madden 08 $19.88

Overall, a pretty lame Black Friday but some decent deals can be found. From the deals last year, nothing much has changed and TVs were about the same price last year. Is sitting out for 8 hours before a store opens is worth it? That’s up to you.

For other readers’ enjoyment, post any deal that you may have come upon Friday afternoon. Happy hunting!

Special thanks to our very own Josh Pankratz for his help putting this list together.

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