axmea?

I've been in retail for the longest time. Never bought a damn thing when BF hit. I used to work for what was once the World's Biggest Toy Store. No one opened early on Friday after TG until Toys R Us started the 6:00 AM early bird with their "big book" catalogue in the early 90's. Nothing was on sale on that catalogue but simply a book full of featured toy items. It was a hit! Others started to follow the idea of opening early on BF. Subsequent years went to open 5 AM then to 4 AM. Now, they're open on TG - sad really. Never bought anything from TRU on BF after TG but I had dibs on the hardest to find toys and electronics. Yes my two boys had everything that was hard to find. Action figures, electronics, you name it.

To this day after working for TRU, Kohl's, and now in the shoe industry -- I have never bought anything on BF. Tip for you --- there is not much of a deal on the week of Christmas. The best one's come on the week before Christmas week itself. After the Holidays, you get left overs unless you want scraps and crap. As for electronics, there are many manufacturers that make runs of a particular generic product for the purpose of moving volumes. It is not a usual model item that they would carry and will make a one off product for retailers for the holidays. These are the ones you need to avoid. They contain so much generic parts that the quality and performance difference is noticeable compared to the staple lines. As for pricing, many retailers who put their wares on sale on black Friday typically sell these items at the same price and sometimes lower during other times of the year. Even if they sell it at a lower price on BF, the difference will not be much. Not really worth the effort to drive and go through long lines with the other customers out there.

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