Best Buy's "doorbuster" Black Friday deals probably won't result in the literal busting of doors

We apologize for the cloying headline, but just wanted to point out to Best Buy that the whole point of insane deals and "doorbuster" savings is, well, those things. We're sure there are a couple things in this new Black Friday catalog to make a seven hour wait in below freezing temperatures -- to be followed by frantic hand-to-hand combat with other recession-hit shoppers who may or may not be Arnold Schwarzenegger -- totally worth it, but we'd really love to meet the person for which a $12 Guns N' Roses CD qualifies as such a purchase. If you're looking for a $380 laptop, a lame $300 Xbox 360 bundle or a decent deal on a crappy LCD TV, knock yourself out.

[dtr20 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:00PM]

so sad

[Flashpoint @ Nov 13th 2008 5:59PM]

I knew this year's Black Friday was gonna suck. Circuit City usually has the best doorbusters and they are chapter 11.

Consumer Spending is expected to be the lowest its been in 25 years according to Reuters.

[Jon @ Nov 13th 2008 6:41PM]

These deals suck, but if your shopping online this year check out

Three Top Coupon Websites

http://www.curiousread.com/2008/08/three-top-coupon-websites.html

Good luck with the shopping!

[SimbaDogg @ Nov 13th 2008 7:36PM]

yeah...seriously, a guns n' roses cd for 12 bucks? not to knock on guns n' roses...but seriously, 12 bucks? i bet once you're able to preorder on amazon, you'll be able to order it for less...regular price, not a doorbuster mind you

[Backlin @ Nov 13th 2008 7:46PM]

They should rename Black Friday to Bleak Friday.

[djs @ Nov 13th 2008 9:04PM]

According to http://bfads.net/Best-Buy-Black-Friday-Ad-Posted

"There isn't anything good to say about this advertisement, it's really horrible. Right now it looks like there could be four scenarios:

1. This is the legitimate Best Buy BF ad and it is horrible
2. This is the Best Buy BF advertisement that runs in Wisconsin, where they have laws that don't allow stores to do loss-leader items (more information here)
3. This is a decoy and the "real" advertisement is still yet to be released
4. Best Buy will be relying heavily on their "Secret Sales" rather than their actual Black Friday ad"

[BananaBoat @ Nov 14th 2008 12:55AM]

A 50" Panny Plasma for 900 isn't a bad deal, and I'd probably pick one up tomorrow if that were the normal price (if only just for my bedroom, since it's not 1080p). All of the rest of the stuff is garbage though.


Man...if you had told me a year ago that a 50" plasma from Panasonic would be going for under a grand this Christmas, I'd have punched you. I got a 32" LCD for my bedroom a year and a half ago (or thereabouts) from LG, and it was a grand. That's 18 inches...in one year....it's almost unbelievable, and it makes me look at my piddly 32" LCD (even if it's a great set and I love it) and think how much better it would be at 18" bigger. Then again, I really only watch the daily show and the news in my bedroom, so it's not a huge deal.


Just think...by next year it might be a 60" Plasma for a grand....... *Drool*

[Daza @ Nov 14th 2008 7:46AM]

The bigger the TV, the worse the picture quality is. I know people who think 32" is too big for their bedrooms. Most people think 50" is too big for their living room. Unless you've got a huge bedroom the 32" is probably more than enough.

[SITEiNK @ Nov 14th 2008 8:40PM]

yea this is a lame ad. I was however fortunate enough to stumble upon an "open bin" sale on video games. I was in purchasing the great Nikon D90 and saw all of these bins of games. each game was $10. i picked up stuff for the PS3 and XBOX 360, but they had games for each system.
The Guns N Roses Disc is actually pretty good for something 14 or so years in the making. http://rockandreview.com/blog/post.cfm/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy But I wholeheartedly agree that this is something that should not be listed as a "Door Buster" item. I mean, what a joke.
If companies like this are still recovering from a slow year, that's one thing, but to insult our intelligence with an ad that is anything but great deals and calling it "door buster" is quite another.

[rock99rock @ Nov 13th 2008 4:01PM]

Not like i would have gone anyway, but this was still a lame attempt.

I think BB has finally come to the conclusion that people will come buy shit no matter what the price is on that particular day.

Order online, and order early my friends. Stay thirsty my friends.

[kjb434 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:12PM]

Exactly,

Most people that run to BB to purchase something aren't necessarily the most savviest of shoppers.

[jorvay @ Nov 13th 2008 4:19PM]

Bingo.
We have never had a real "black friday" in Canada since our thanksgiving falls before Halloween, but I know that on boxing day the sales have been all smoke and mirrors for a few years now north of the border. People still assume the crappy deals are good deals and drop cash like mad anyway.

[Izzy @ Nov 13th 2008 5:21PM]

Yep, With most of their "big box" competitors either in bankruptcy or near it, they have no motivation to sell cheap. Wal-Mart is their biggest brick & mortar competitor and that's sad.

I buy all of my stuff online, BB doesn't deserve my business. And don't even get me going on Geek Squad!

[striggity @ Nov 13th 2008 4:01PM]

I can't condone any adult standing in line at 3am for anything. I've never done it, and I never will...if it ain't still there @ 12pm...I'll just wait till next week and pay a few extra dollars.

[000000 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:47PM]

Well about 3 years ago(yeah I said 3years) I got a MAG 32" HD LCD tv for 499$ at Staples. Today they are STILL only at $499... Maybe 1080p but still. I only had to get up at 7:30 drove to my Staples less than a mile away and picked it up. Was worth it to me... I also stood in line that year at Microcenter for an hour to get a XBOX Pro(or whatever w/20gig) for 199$ w/ two games. I saved at lease 300$ bucks that year by sacrificing a couple hours.

Early bird gets the worm. If cash is disposable to you then good for you.

[whatishalo? @ Nov 13th 2008 4:50PM]

"Early bird gets the worm."

I view it as "The second mouse gets the cheese."

[Mikey @ Nov 13th 2008 5:11PM]

Like 000000, I to have saved a large amount of cash thanks to BF deals:

My brother and I went to Staples last year to get some $350 Compaq laptops. We waited 2.5 hours and got the last two coupons for the desired products. We returned home and they really were only worth the $350 (however still better than the 300 MHz PII towers at home). One of the new comps was dead out of the box...

This lead to hours of arguing with both Staples and Compaq. Eventually the dead one was sent back to the manufacture and exchanged for a slightly better one. This "improved" one had as many issues as the first lemon laptop. Compaq said to keep it and sent us a comp that retailed on their site for $1200. Eventually with a bit of playing my bro got the broken laptop working (minus the track pad).

I viewed it as a $1200 bonus for a few hours of time.

[Andrew @ Nov 13th 2008 4:02PM]

It's been like this in Canada for ages. I thought it only happened here and that they wouldn't dare do that in the US. After all, they are awfully close to being a monopoly up here. I guess they aren't afraid of competition any more.

[Peter @ Nov 13th 2008 4:13PM]

What? We don't have Black Friday sales in Canada, because our Thanksgiving is in October. Our big doorcrasher day is Boxing Day.

[jorvay @ Nov 13th 2008 4:21PM]

Andrew, good to see that I'm not the only one to notice this (see my comment above).

Peter, you're right about boxing day, but I haven't seen a real 'door crasher' on boxing day or any other day for years here.

[Andrew @ Nov 13th 2008 4:21PM]

I was referring to the practice of calling things "doorcrashers" when they're barely worth being called sales. BB and FS now do that year-round for major holidays. And they are rarely worth their name.

[Cash @ Nov 13th 2008 4:02PM]

That's pathetic. I guess now that BB is the only pretty girl in school, she figures she doesn't have to try anymore.

[BarryBee @ Nov 13th 2008 4:13PM]

You do realize that BBY didn't just make this ad up last week, right? This is something these companies plan months in advance.

[Eddie @ Nov 13th 2008 4:19PM]

No it is a good possibility that they made this last week. Time to see what the competion is doing, time to request stock from the distributors, and time to haggle the vendors down on their cost. At most companies usually will only plan their ad about a month in advance, with the exception of the stores that do a blanket discount on the store. Never plan an ad that far out in advance because you never know what will happen to supply and demand.

[narmak5000 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:19PM]

circuit city has been dying for sometime now. the place never has any of the items on sale and it has a feel of a tomb

[J5892 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:29PM]

Best buy purchased about 70% of what would have been circuit city's holiday stock.
And they got it for a discounted price because circuit city couldn't pay for it.

[who? @ Nov 13th 2008 6:24PM]

I'm going to Target, last year they had a 500GB external hard drive for $70 and a ton of $5 DVDs. Target FTW!!!

[who? @ Nov 13th 2008 6:25PM]

I'm going to Target, last year they had a 500GB external hard drive for $70 and a ton of $5 DVDs. Target FTW!!!

[JOSE @ Nov 13th 2008 4:04PM]

im pretty sure that circuit city might end up with the best deals regardless of the bankruptcy...
bank of america hooked them up with a loan so i would think they are making the effort to do something for the holidays

[Jon @ Nov 13th 2008 4:06PM]

A PS3 for $399!!!! Oh wait...

[water.and.sand @ Nov 14th 2008 3:11AM]

Though the prices haven't changed, they are now bundled with extra stuff.
Ratchet and Clank for PS3 sounds good at the price of free.

Still probably doesn't beat what BB's competitors are doing, but it's not exactly the standard as most of you have made it out to be.

And here I was all excited that there were no deals at all, and as a BB employee, I'd have an easy day ahead of me...

[Chris @ Nov 13th 2008 4:08PM]

I've given up on getting in line early. The last time I did it there were people who got in line at 6pm on Thursday. You can't compete with people who have no life.

[Ichiban @ Nov 13th 2008 4:37PM]

Agreed. I usually find great deals all year around anyway using slickdeals, dealhacks and other sites as well. All it takes is patience and will power trying to save money until you can blow your wallet load on the items you want. I went 2 years ago during black friday and there was too many people trying to break down doors for items that were not even all that great.

[james @ Nov 13th 2008 7:44PM]

Well said. I remember reading about people lining up for blocks to get cheap gas and even getting in fights over it. I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would wait in line for hours even for a FREE tank of gas, I mean even at the peak, a single tank wasn't exactly a fortune.

There's loads of deals to be had online, and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. No way I'm gonna wait in line for hours outside in the cold just to save a few bucks.

[lexxdiamons @ Nov 14th 2008 9:26AM]

First off, you couldn't pay me to stand in line at 3 am in the freezing cold to save a few bucks on electronics. I dont understand why if anyone wanted one of theese items, why they wouldnt just purchase the night before or even a week before, go back to the store on Black Friday after the comotion has did down, and just return the item and repurchase at the discounted price. (don't tell me they wont let you because they will, I did it two years ago on a TV at PC Richard)

[narmak5000 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:10PM]

I'll take my chances at Sam's. This sale is liquid feces

[lowdef @ Nov 13th 2008 4:24PM]

FRYS FTW!!!!!

[Valicore @ Nov 13th 2008 11:55PM]

Fry's? Isn't that risking your life? it'll be like attack of the zombies on red-bull.

[phanbouy @ Nov 13th 2008 4:10PM]

black friday indeed

[happy_penguin @ Nov 13th 2008 5:40PM]

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

[Murc @ Nov 13th 2008 8:53PM]

that was gay...

[happy_penguin @ Nov 13th 2008 11:42PM]

So was your mom until I did her.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ Nov 13th 2008 4:12PM]

I waited out in the cold one october night back in 2000 to get the gem that was a PS2. Went to school late the next day and performed in the opening night for the school play on zero hours sleep in the past 36 hours. Armored Core 2 made it totally worth it.

Nothing in that ad would make me take a leisurely stroll over to BB on an uncrowded sunday afternoon.

[peaviner87 @ Nov 13th 2008 4:14PM]

That cheap plasma is only good to bust doors with. 720p at 50"? That's horrible! Not worth it at all. I'll sleep instead...

[Ignatius @ Nov 13th 2008 5:16PM]

What's funny is that you can find that TV on sale sometimes for $900 elsewhere...

There are no good deals.

[iEye @ Nov 13th 2008 4:14PM]

Why do you all want to spend money on crap so badly? you guys never heard of a bank?

You see a Bank is a place where you put disposable income when you have nothing to spend it on...

[Andrew @ Nov 13th 2008 4:24PM]

... so that nice men in expensive suits can spend it away in the "Stock Market" casino down on Wall Street and come back the next day through your back door (labeled "Taxes") to beg for more.

[StalematE @ Nov 13th 2008 4:30PM]

...says the apple whore.

[iEye @ Nov 13th 2008 5:42PM]

fine, then buy bullion... not the ones you put in chicken soup.. gold

[Don @ Nov 14th 2008 12:00AM]

"You see a Bank is a place where you put disposable income when you have nothing to spend it on..."

....says the poster with the Apple avatar. :/