[ArtGal]

Awesome! I've never done any Black Friday shopping before, but now I'm really excited to go to CVS this year!

For those of you who have done this in previous years, what's the best strategy? Should I start saving ECB instead of rolling them? How many ECB do you need (I guess that depends on what you want to buy, though)? I'm new to CVS, so I don't have many saved up, but I could go for some free appliances!

[carlajworkman]

Originally Posted by ArtGal

Awesome! I've never done any Black Friday shopping before, but now I'm really excited to go to CVS this year!

For those of you who have done this in previous years, what's the best strategy? Should I start saving ECB instead of rolling them? How many ECB do you need (I guess that depends on what you want to buy, though)? I'm new to CVS, so I don't have many saved up, but I could go for some free appliances!

I'd like to hear the same things!!

[didie1]

Originally Posted by shoppingal

So what happens in the 24hr stores?? Just have to wait to see when they change the ad over?? And the ad always starts Thanksgiving day??? Nothing waits for Black Friday?

I'm not sure, I don't have 24hr stores around me. I just know that when I got there at 8am on Thanksgiving morning I was able to get all my deals

[shellbellster]

Originally Posted by ArtGal

Awesome! I've never done any Black Friday shopping before, but now I'm really excited to go to CVS this year!

For those of you who have done this in previous years, what's the best strategy? Should I start saving ECB instead of rolling them? How many ECB do you need (I guess that depends on what you want to buy, though)? I'm new to CVS, so I don't have many saved up, but I could go for some free appliances!

I've only done it last year but it was awesome! It doesn't really matter how many extracare bucks you have but the less you have the more transactions you will have to do. I ended up doing one transaction last year and it was like 100 extracare bucks I used.

[shellbellster]

Originally Posted by shoppingal

So what happens in the 24hr stores?? Just have to wait to see when they change the ad over?? And the ad always starts Thanksgiving day??? Nothing waits for Black Friday?

I would assume that since it is considered a three day sale they treat it like normal. So as long as you wait to checkout at midnight you will be fine. And yes it starts on Thanksgiving. I see it as a good thing because absolutely no one is out. When I went last year me and my dad were the only ones in the store.

[luckymamha21]

I went to my store at 10:30pm the night before Thanksgiving (24 hour store). I brought in Cherry Cheesecake and Pumkin Pie for the staff. They were so appreciative. I told them what I was looking for and she said that they were not allowed to turn the sale on until Midnight. I was the only one there for about 1/2 hour then people started arriving in car loads. My cart was pretty much already full with what I wanted. I had saved all my prescription gift cards and had about $100 in ECB. I never had so much fun in my life and I paid nothing out of pocket because of those gift cards. I walked with over $500 worth of merch. I can't wait to see what is offered this year.

[ArtGal]

Thanks - I'm really excited now and will save up some ECBs for it!

[lululu888]

Apart from BF, they also had great deals for Xmas last year, if I remember correctly. I hope this year they'll have great deals too, but I'm not keeping my hope high seeing they've been shrinking the limits and offers all through this year so far... well, here's hoping I'm wrong about it, and we shall have a fantastic BF!! And, yes, I went to the 24hr store and at the strike of midnight, everyone lined up and started checking out.... you should have seen the length of the receipts everyone was getting, unbelievable! That was probably the only time that you wish they don't have the rule that only 40 EB deals will print per transaction!

[mrsfloyd]

Originally Posted by lululu888

Apart from BF, they also had great deals for Xmas last year, if I remember correctly. I hope this year they'll have great deals too, but I'm not keeping my hope high seeing they've been shrinking the limits and offers all through this year so far... well, here's hoping I'm wrong about it, and we shall have a fantastic BF!! And, yes, I went to the 24hr store and at the strike of midnight, everyone lined up and started checking out.... you should have seen the length of the receipts everyone was getting, unbelievable! That was probably the only time that you wish they don't have the rule that only 40 EB deals will print per transaction!

That still totally wasn't a problem. There were only like 10 or 12 freebie items (free/MM after coupons and ECBs) so even if you threw in a bunch of stuff that was NOT free, you'd still have to be doing some crazy serious shopping to hit the 40-offer mark. LOL

[Roo25hoo]

Originally Posted by mrsfloyd

Last year it was a 3-day ad - Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Saturday.

That's beautiful.

[kreed]

Originally Posted by lululu888

Apart from BF, they also had great deals for Xmas last year, if I remember correctly. I hope this year they'll have great deals too, but I'm not keeping my hope high seeing they've been shrinking the limits and offers all through this year so far... well, here's hoping I'm wrong about it, and we shall have a fantastic BF!! And, yes, I went to the 24hr store and at the strike of midnight, everyone lined up and started checking out.... you should have seen the length of the receipts everyone was getting, unbelievable! That was probably the only time that you wish they don't have the rule that only 40 EB deals will print per transaction!

It isn't 40 ECB per transaction...it is a limit of 40 ECB OFFERS per transaction....you'd have to get a bunch of stuff to get 40 ECB offers in one transaction

[Alexdur85]

The only two places I went last year were Walmart and Sears..but by the time we got to sears what we wanted was gone..

How do you guys stratigize? I don't have any friends that do black friday. No one can put up with it like me!!!

[Alexdur85]

Oh SNAP!! Found a CVS in my area that is open 24/7.. Will be going there first and then to wait in line if anythign else better comes out.. unless Walgreens has something better this year.. I dunno.. we will see. I am BFF w/ the store manager's daughter I bet she will save me the stuff I want!

[mrsfloyd]

Originally Posted by Alexdur85

The only two places I went last year were Walmart and Sears..but by the time we got to sears what we wanted was gone..

How do you guys stratigize? I don't have any friends that do black friday. No one can put up with it like me!!!

Well the great thing about the CVS sale is that you SHOULD be able to get rainchecks for most items (as long as they are not seasonal and as long as the ad doesn't specify 'no rainchecks' or 'while supplies last'). CVS will probably be the ONLY place that I bother shopping for Black Friday b/c I am SO not all about fighting crowds and CVS was not that bad last year for me. But if you have other stores you want to hit, rest easy knowing that you will probably be able to get your rainchecks if you have to put it on the back burner. We will have the ad ahead of time and you'll be able to see if there are any items that won't allow rainchecks, so that might factor into your strategy.

[mdsmiley]

You ladies are all getting me excited. Our Longs just turned into a CVS so this will be my first CVS holiday shopping experience. I will definitely be there first thing Thanksgiving morning.

[bigred151]

So am I to assume that at a 24 hr. store you can just go a few hours earier and load up and then just wait for the sale to turn on to check out? That sounds like the odds of stuff being in stock are good.

[timmsa]

Last year i didn't really do any black friday deals, and i was not into the coupon thing very much.
But after what I have seen for the sneak peaks. I just told my hubby, that I will have my butt there bright and early before the stores even open.
I read some where that Best Buy(i think it was them) was going to have a lap top for $149.00. If that is true, my butt will be there before anyone else. I need a new lap top.
My son dropped mine last year, and now I don't have one.

[timmsa]

One thing to, don't forget Sears and Kmart are now doing online layway.

[kreed]

Originally Posted by timmsa

Last year i didn't really do any black friday deals, and i was not into the coupon thing very much.
But after what I have seen for the sneak peaks. I just told my hubby, that I will have my butt there bright and early before the stores even open.
I read some where that Best Buy(i think it was them) was going to have a lap top for $149.00. If that is true, my butt will be there before anyone else. I need a new lap top.
My son dropped mine last year, and now I don't have one.

That's Office Max and its a Netbook 10"

[timmsa]

Thanks, I just realized it was office max.
And the sad part about it is, we don't have an office max here any more.

[lilkim00033]

Originally Posted by Alexdur85

The only two places I went last year were Walmart and Sears..but by the time we got to sears what we wanted was gone..

How do you guys stratigize? I don't have any friends that do black friday. No one can put up with it like me!!!

I am new to couponing this year, but have always done the BF deals - esp when they offer free stuff ie OldNavy (free MP3 Player last yr), Gottschalks (free $10 last yr), Sears (free $5 2 yrs ago)

One year I made my hubs stand in line at Best Buy to grab some items (not the hot-ticket things like TVs or laptops) He didn't end up getting anything there....but we went home and ordered from bestbuy.com, and got the SAME price, with FREE shipping. He will never stand in line for me again. So, even if you miss the deals in the store, check out their website online for comparable prices. If you need a laptop or TV, though, be prepared to stand in line VERRRRY long. Depending on where you live, ppl start lining up at BestBuy on Thanksgiving afternoon to get the big ticket items. They usually come out and give tickets to the hot items to the first x number of ppl in line.

I will definitely be hitting up CVS on Thanksgiving morning while he watches some football (from what I've seen here, it seems like most of them are open for deals on Thursday).

Also, keep in mind that WalMart WILL price match Black Friday ads for identical items (BB and Target will NOT!) - if its not on BF sale at Walmart, you will have a MUCH better chance at getting the Sears/Target/BB/etc. deals at WM than you will at the actual stores. Just bring the ads with you, and the cashier will prolly give you the stink-eye But its Walmart's policy to price match the ads. I did it last year with some Wii games that were on sale at Target, but not at WM. I didn't end up at WM til like noon and there were plenty in stock, since they weren't on sale there!

[sweetsali]

Waiting and waiting and waiting............for the black friday ad to come out. I'm leaving my house at 11:30 that night to give myself time to gather up the goods and check out by 12:00. I have (2) CVS stores les than 5 minutes away from me

[ssanderfamily]

Last year I was at CVS by 11:00pm the night before Thanksgiving. I met one other lady who was coupon shopping, we helped one another find our products. Then we waited until midnight. It was so calm, nothing like shopping on Black Friday.

All my other BF shopping was done at a Super Walmart, since it was open 24 hours, we arrived at Midnight, grabbed what we wanted to price match, and waited by the item that was in Walmart's ad. The only thing that was bad was checking out. The store was CALM until 5:00am, after that it was a nut house!

[antiqueforest]

No CVS 24 hr for me so I will have to loose sleep on the anticipation to arrive in the morning.

[tannajolynn]

Where?! I live in Santa Rosa and have no idea which store is 24 hours! (BTW, are any of the Walgreens 24 hours?) I'mjust getting into couponing so I don't know where all the stores are yet.

Originally Posted by Alexdur85

Oh SNAP!! Found a CVS in my area that is open 24/7.. Will be going there first and then to wait in line if anythign else better comes out.. unless Walgreens has something better this year.. I dunno.. we will see. I am BFF w/ the store manager's daughter I bet she will save me the stuff I want!