In the past few years, I’ve started to assemble Christmas presents earlier, and have tried to take advantage of the traditional “day-after-Thanksgiving” sales.  Unfortunately I’m usually working on that day, so I rarely get anything good.  I’ve never been one to stand in a long line before dawn in anticipation of a store opening just to get the best price, but I’ve always managed to get into the store just in time to find out they sold out of whatever I’m looking for.  So this year I managed to have the day off, which meant I could plan my Black Friday sale strategy in advance and actually get out early to brave the crowds and try to get some decent things at low prices.  My list of potential targets included a list of items from Menards, Officemax, Herberger’s, K-Mart, and Target.

I woke up early and got to Menards about 30 minutes before the doors were scheduled to be opened, and was surprised to see a line of about 150 people already formed in front of the store.  I silently joined the crowd with coffee in hand and patiently waited for the doors to open.  It turned out to be a nice morning weather-wise, so I wasn’t too cold or otherwise uncomfortable.

Crowds are odd things.  The line was maybe 2 people wide and extended into the parking lot about halfway down the row, at least that’s how it started out.  As the time to open grew closer, the crowd, without any warning or communication, suddenly shortened to about half and widened out.  I suppose this was an instinctive  protection reflex due to a growing number of people shuffling around to the side of the line near the doors.  My theory is that some people began to move slightly to protect their position in line and shut out the interlopers that arrived later and were obviously edging toward the front without any regard for the proper line etiquette.  When store employees appeared at the front near the doors with about 5 minutes to go til opening time, the line suddenly and unexpectedly reformed again, and I found myself shuffling forward furiously in order to keep my place in a line that was now 20 feet wide but significantly shorter.  I remarked to the person next to me that they were “definately in my bubble” which caused some laughter.  Seriously though, at this point we were packed in so tight I could no longer bring my coffee to my lips.

When the doors did finally burst open there was yet another furious shuffle to get a cart and get out into the store.  Some people were smart enough to grab some garbage bins with rollers that were strategically placed at the front of the store.  I was not one of them.  I waited for a cart, then made my way to the first item on my list.  I had pre-shopped the store the day before so I knew exactly where to find them, but I was too late and the vaunted $8.88 boot dryers were all gone by the time I got here.  I expected this, however, and quickly mobilized my cart over to the 2nd item on my list.  I was lucky enough to get all the remaining things with no issue, then joined a large crowd of people in line to check out.  It took more time to get through the checkout than I imagined, but after another half-hour I was on my way to Officemax for a color laser printer for $99!  Of course I arrived too late (I knew they only had 6 in the store), but I had a good backup plan.  I knew that Newegg had them on sale for the same price online, and with no tax and free shipping it was actually a better deal than the in-store model.  

I moved on to the other stores and was generally able to find the bargains I hunted.  I was back home by 8:30 to tell Tracy all about my early morning adventures, which she found amusing.  After making some coffee we went out together to get some breakfast and fill out some things on her shopping list, which meant another 3 hours in Herbergers!  It was a wonderfully productive day and we managed to get almost all of our Christmas shopping done.  As I was shuffling along in that cold dark parking lot I was wondering if I’d lost my mind, but I’m sure I’ll be ready to try it again next year.

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