An end run around Black Friday

Forget CyberMonday, the deal online were to be had on Black Friday. Thanks to Staples offering the same prices on “doorbusters” in-store and online, my wife was able to score a couple of TomTom One 3rd Edition GPS units for $125 each with $20 gift card rebates on both. Instead of waiting in line at some gawd awful hour of the morning in the freezing weather, she hoped online at 6am and, from the comfort of our bed, placed the orders. No need to warm up the car! I had originally checked to see if Staples had opened the “gates” after midnight, but the site said come back at 6. I am not what one would call a “morning person,” but thankfully my wife is. I was half awake when she ordered the first one and asked if we should get a second unit for a relative that had been contemplating standing in line at a local Staples store. He didn’t make it, but made out nonetheless. The best part of the experience came later in the day when out at a local shoe store we overheard a fellow shopper complaining that he waited in line earlier that morning but got into the store to find out the GPS unit he was looking for (not sure if it was the TomTom) was sold out. At least he didn’t wait in a 4-hour traffic jam to find out, like some Mass.-area shoppers. My wife and I did the wait-in-line-at-4am-in-the-cold thing a few years back and missed out on what we were looking for, so I vowed never again would I be tricked by the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. But, if more retailers follow the lead of Staples and offer deals both in-store and online, I’ll have to start setting my alarm earlier on Black Friday and firing up the laptop.