My 1st Black Friday

Because Emmy woke me up at 2:30 this morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep, I decided to check the Black Friday ads on the computer and see if there was anything I could go get. After thoroughly reviewing the ads from stores I thought we might be interested, I decided to go to JCPs' for some Emmy clothes, and Walmart for some more Emmy clothes. I arrived at JCP about 10 minutes after they opened (at 4 AM), and even though the parking lot was full and the inside was crowded, I was able to quickly make my way to where the baby clothes were and casually peruse the wares until I had selected about $60 worth of stuff. I waited in a checkout line about five minutes, and headed off to Walmart, who started their sale at 5 AM.

I got to Walmart at about 4:45, and the entire parking lot was full. The parking lots of the neighboring businesses were full. The streets were lined with cars. I parked on the street and proceeded to hitchhike back to walmart, and got in the doors at about 4:58.

Inside was jam packed full of people. There were items in the aisles that were shrink wrapped, with employees guarding them. I started to make my way to the opposite corner of the store, where the baby stuff is. Then five o'clock hit. People went nuts! The shrink-wrapping came off and large items started flying around. I almost got clocked in the head by some lady trying to hammer throw a large item to her cart. I dodged it fortunately, and quickly found that all routes to the back of the store were impassable. After weaving in and out of aisles, carts, people, and who knows what else, I made it back to the baby section.

There I saw the stack of disney princess jammies that I had come for. There were about 10 ladies all around it, throwing jammies around (because, I found out , they weren't the size they were looking for). I weaseled my way in and found four pair of jammies that were the size I was looking for, and started to make my way back to the front of the store. I was close to the grocery section, so I cut over there and went up front. There I beheld an insanely massive crowd, all pressing forward toward the cash registers. So, I weaseled my way to the back of the crowd, got behind someone, and waited. And waited. While I waited, I decided that I didn't like one pair of jammies because they had spongebob on them, so I tossed them into one of the piles of stuff that were beginning to accumulate from people who likewise had decided something wasn't that great. I waited in line for about 30 minutes, during which time I learned that the trick was to bring two people - one to wait in line, and one to risk life and limb out in the war zone, retrieving various items to fill the cart that was waiting in line.

I ended up getting three pair of $3 princess jammies, and a $19 Wii game I grabbed while I was trapped trying to get to the back of the store. Erica can give that to me for Christmas.

Phew! I wouldn't recommend doing that unless your young one wakes you up and you can't go back to sleep.

Comments

Cambrienelson said…
crazy stuff. STeve and I went at midnight to toys r us. we waited in line about a mile from the entrance to the store for about 2 mins before deciding it wasn't worth the 3 hour wait to save $30.
Cambrienelson said…
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Gramps said…
Yer mom & I and Buff went to our friendly neighborhood Walmart as well. Parking lot totally full and by the time we got out the surrounding streets were full of parked cars. Crazy crowds but at least they didn't make you wait outside in the cold until the doors opened...you could wait/shop inside. The shrink wrap came off right at 5am and the frenzy began. They were selling DVDs for 2 bucks and in the 3 minutes it took me to go to the DVD rack, there were only 5 left. We did get a oouple of good deals though...and I waited in line while Marilyn and Buff shopped.

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