Greg Richardson
11-24-2006, 05:27 PM
This bird not early enough to score best shopping deal
By Manuel Valdes
Seattle Times Eastside bureau
The deal seemed too good to be true: a laptop for $379. I paid about $1,500 for my last laptop, which was stolen from my car last year after I — trusting humanity a bit too much — left my windows down.
I'm a cash-strapped college student, so when my brother told me about this deal Best Buy was offering the day after Thanksgiving, I instantly became excited at the thought of once again being able to obsessively check email from anywhere.
But the day after Thanksgiving is the day when shoppers act like drought-stricken Wildebeest to a waterhole. It's crazy out there in the asphalt jungle.
Store manager Steve Starr told me on Wednesday all the hoopla over the new game consoles is small potatoes compared to this morning.
Starr also told me that in years past people began to show up at the store by 3 a.m., which is when the employees show up.
I decided to show up at Best Buy at 2 a.m. I mean, no one would be there earlier than that. People like would have to be crazy, right?
Er, fast forward to this morning.
2:19 a.m.: I'm pulling into the Best Buy parking lot in Bellevue and surprise! There's already a line snaking around the store to behind the loading area and toward the parking lot. Ugh. A rough estimate puts that around 300 cold noses.
2:25 a.m.: I went the front of the line to talk to the lucky ones holding the number one and two spots.
Their names were Shaw Horton and Adam Watts from Redmond. The two 16-year-olds started the line at 12:30 p.m., a full 16.5 hours before the store opens.
What about that perennial American holiday known as Thanksgiving? Did they miss it?
"I had a Thanksgiving lunch, you could say," Horton joked.
What did they want to buy so badly? Watts was determined to get a 32-inch High Definition TV.
The two had more layers of clothing than an Eskimo on a whale hunt and for good reason, temperatures fell to the 30s and the wind chill a few degrees lower.
These guys were prepared. They brought iPods, hot cocoa, baseball mitts, cup-a-noodles and wool socks. Everything they needed to pass the time at an empty parking lot.
I asked them if I had a chance at getting one of the laptops and they said that unless I was in the top-10, I probably was not going to get one.
But I didn't let that comment get me down. Perhaps Best Buy would have 200 laptops in stock. You never know.
2:40 a.m.: A few yards down from Horton and Watts, a group of shoppers had a tent up fully equipped with warm-looking blankets.
Here, Leo Perez, 33, was the leader of the group. He claimed his spot at 3 p.m. For him, enduring a cold day was worth it to get affordable gifts for his children.
And so far, nearly 12 hours after arriving, Perez was in good spirits and described the experience as fun. I asked if he thought I would get one of the laptops.
"You don't have a chance," Perez said.
Well, so much for positive thinking.
I walked some more. Everyone was bundled up. Many faces covered by scarves. People passed the time by reading or talking. One group had brought a table to play dominos on. Another group was watching a movie from their car.
Further down the line, I met one group that was truly prepared for the freezing conditions. They had a gas-powered heater. I immediately envied them.
Warming up next to the heater stood Sue Woller and her daughter Ashley. They were hoping to buy a TV for Ashley's room at her sorority at the University of Washington. They were having fun and said that they shop on the day after Thanksgiving every year.
"It's the new American tradition waiting in line," Woller said.
3:15 a.m.: I decided to go to my place in line, which had been kindly kept by the people in front of me.
3:23 a.m.: I'm cold. I'm cold. I'm cold. I feel like I got lost in the Cascades after a snow-shoeing expedition. More people arriving. My place in line now seems to be about half-way.
3:24 a.m.: I talk to my neighbors. The people behind me are a mother-daughter-friend team from Maple Valley. They had made a list of things they wanted and held on to hope that they would be able to get at least one item. They came here for laptops, too, but it was becoming clearer that we didn't have a chance.
3:30 a.m.: I'm still cold. I propose we burn the bag of newspaper advertisements my neighbors were carrying but they said no. Darn.
3:36 a.m.: I ask my line-neighbors, "isn't great that we live in a capitalistic nation?" We get to wait in freezing weather for great deals! I'm sure this is what Adam Smith had in mind. A man in front of me is from Romania. I ask if he had seen stuff like this before back home. He said yes, but people lined up for milk and other necessities.
4:00 a.m.: Best Buy employees hand out tickets that mark which item you can buy. There are as many tickets as there are items.
4:30 a.m.: The parking lot is brimming with activity. Cars, SUVs and taxis are driving around. Adults, senior citizens and children file in line.It's 4 a.m. people! Whatever happened to sleep? The parking lot is full. Cars are parked in makeshift spaces and judging from the honking, tempers are starting to shorten.
4:45 a.m.: Tickets for the laptop don't make it my section of the line.
5:01 a.m.: The store opens. The line starts moving. I hold on to slim hope that there will still be laptops.
5:35 a.m.: All laptops are sold out. One of the Best Buy workers tells me that more than 700 people were counted before the doors opened.
5:40 a.m.: I go outside and see the two guys from the front of the line. They told me that they sold their tickets for laptops for a 100 bucks and that the men they sold it to was only about 20 people behind them. I never had a chance.
But these two guys are happy. The got what they wanted, their efforts paid off and someone had given them a box of Krispy Kremes.
5:41 a.m.: For the lucky ones, shopping was fast. Several shoppers were done about 15 minutes after entering the store, carrying boxes of laptops and flat-screen panels back to their cars with beaming smiles of accomplishment. I stop a brother and sister carrying two laptops and wireless routers who had been at the Best Buy since 5 p.m. When asked if it was worth it, the brother shrugs and says, "yeah."
5:43 a.m.: A man shows up wearing shorts and sandals. He must have the most impermeable skin in the world.
5:50 a.m.: I head to the office empty handed. My dreams of watching YouTube on my laptop dashed.
I underestimated the power of deals. But at least I got a free Krispy Kreme.
By Manuel Valdes
Seattle Times Eastside bureau
The deal seemed too good to be true: a laptop for $379. I paid about $1,500 for my last laptop, which was stolen from my car last year after I — trusting humanity a bit too much — left my windows down.
I'm a cash-strapped college student, so when my brother told me about this deal Best Buy was offering the day after Thanksgiving, I instantly became excited at the thought of once again being able to obsessively check email from anywhere.
But the day after Thanksgiving is the day when shoppers act like drought-stricken Wildebeest to a waterhole. It's crazy out there in the asphalt jungle.
Store manager Steve Starr told me on Wednesday all the hoopla over the new game consoles is small potatoes compared to this morning.
Starr also told me that in years past people began to show up at the store by 3 a.m., which is when the employees show up.
I decided to show up at Best Buy at 2 a.m. I mean, no one would be there earlier than that. People like would have to be crazy, right?
Er, fast forward to this morning.
2:19 a.m.: I'm pulling into the Best Buy parking lot in Bellevue and surprise! There's already a line snaking around the store to behind the loading area and toward the parking lot. Ugh. A rough estimate puts that around 300 cold noses.
2:25 a.m.: I went the front of the line to talk to the lucky ones holding the number one and two spots.
Their names were Shaw Horton and Adam Watts from Redmond. The two 16-year-olds started the line at 12:30 p.m., a full 16.5 hours before the store opens.
What about that perennial American holiday known as Thanksgiving? Did they miss it?
"I had a Thanksgiving lunch, you could say," Horton joked.
What did they want to buy so badly? Watts was determined to get a 32-inch High Definition TV.
The two had more layers of clothing than an Eskimo on a whale hunt and for good reason, temperatures fell to the 30s and the wind chill a few degrees lower.
These guys were prepared. They brought iPods, hot cocoa, baseball mitts, cup-a-noodles and wool socks. Everything they needed to pass the time at an empty parking lot.
I asked them if I had a chance at getting one of the laptops and they said that unless I was in the top-10, I probably was not going to get one.
But I didn't let that comment get me down. Perhaps Best Buy would have 200 laptops in stock. You never know.
2:40 a.m.: A few yards down from Horton and Watts, a group of shoppers had a tent up fully equipped with warm-looking blankets.
Here, Leo Perez, 33, was the leader of the group. He claimed his spot at 3 p.m. For him, enduring a cold day was worth it to get affordable gifts for his children.
And so far, nearly 12 hours after arriving, Perez was in good spirits and described the experience as fun. I asked if he thought I would get one of the laptops.
"You don't have a chance," Perez said.
Well, so much for positive thinking.
I walked some more. Everyone was bundled up. Many faces covered by scarves. People passed the time by reading or talking. One group had brought a table to play dominos on. Another group was watching a movie from their car.
Further down the line, I met one group that was truly prepared for the freezing conditions. They had a gas-powered heater. I immediately envied them.
Warming up next to the heater stood Sue Woller and her daughter Ashley. They were hoping to buy a TV for Ashley's room at her sorority at the University of Washington. They were having fun and said that they shop on the day after Thanksgiving every year.
"It's the new American tradition waiting in line," Woller said.
3:15 a.m.: I decided to go to my place in line, which had been kindly kept by the people in front of me.
3:23 a.m.: I'm cold. I'm cold. I'm cold. I feel like I got lost in the Cascades after a snow-shoeing expedition. More people arriving. My place in line now seems to be about half-way.
3:24 a.m.: I talk to my neighbors. The people behind me are a mother-daughter-friend team from Maple Valley. They had made a list of things they wanted and held on to hope that they would be able to get at least one item. They came here for laptops, too, but it was becoming clearer that we didn't have a chance.
3:30 a.m.: I'm still cold. I propose we burn the bag of newspaper advertisements my neighbors were carrying but they said no. Darn.
3:36 a.m.: I ask my line-neighbors, "isn't great that we live in a capitalistic nation?" We get to wait in freezing weather for great deals! I'm sure this is what Adam Smith had in mind. A man in front of me is from Romania. I ask if he had seen stuff like this before back home. He said yes, but people lined up for milk and other necessities.
4:00 a.m.: Best Buy employees hand out tickets that mark which item you can buy. There are as many tickets as there are items.
4:30 a.m.: The parking lot is brimming with activity. Cars, SUVs and taxis are driving around. Adults, senior citizens and children file in line.It's 4 a.m. people! Whatever happened to sleep? The parking lot is full. Cars are parked in makeshift spaces and judging from the honking, tempers are starting to shorten.
4:45 a.m.: Tickets for the laptop don't make it my section of the line.
5:01 a.m.: The store opens. The line starts moving. I hold on to slim hope that there will still be laptops.
5:35 a.m.: All laptops are sold out. One of the Best Buy workers tells me that more than 700 people were counted before the doors opened.
5:40 a.m.: I go outside and see the two guys from the front of the line. They told me that they sold their tickets for laptops for a 100 bucks and that the men they sold it to was only about 20 people behind them. I never had a chance.
But these two guys are happy. The got what they wanted, their efforts paid off and someone had given them a box of Krispy Kremes.
5:41 a.m.: For the lucky ones, shopping was fast. Several shoppers were done about 15 minutes after entering the store, carrying boxes of laptops and flat-screen panels back to their cars with beaming smiles of accomplishment. I stop a brother and sister carrying two laptops and wireless routers who had been at the Best Buy since 5 p.m. When asked if it was worth it, the brother shrugs and says, "yeah."
5:43 a.m.: A man shows up wearing shorts and sandals. He must have the most impermeable skin in the world.
5:50 a.m.: I head to the office empty handed. My dreams of watching YouTube on my laptop dashed.
I underestimated the power of deals. But at least I got a free Krispy Kreme.