When I arrived at 5:00 AM the parking lot was full, so I had to park in a neighboring Wal Mart lot, which was also filling up.
The line to get into the store wrapped around the entire 180,000+ square foot edifice. It took about 45 minutes to weave to the front entrance. Some of the first entrants were already leaving with their "captured booty" as I was going in. I grabbed one of the shopping carts available as a result of this early exodus.
Inside, LCD and Plasma Televisions, Computer monitors, Printers, and assorted DVDs and smaller items filled the shopping carts. Most of the early bird "door busters" were already out of stock. I missed out my attempt to secure a $57 Samsung DVD Recorder, however, I was able to score a great deal on an Onkyo TX-SR304 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital/DTS Receiver for $99 (regular shelf price is $199).
Already in the store for a about half-hour, It was time to get in line for the cashier. By that time, the line for the 50+ cashiers started at the back of the store. The time to cashier; about 90 minutes.
The total time from entering and then finally exiting the store (not counting the long trek back to the car) was about 2 hours.
Next stop; the main San Diego Best Buy Store. I arrived at about 7:30 AM; the inital crush was over, and scored a decent parking place. However, the store was packed. I missed out on one deal, a 22-inch Westinghouse Digital computer monitor for $199 (normal shelf price is $399). However, two additional items that I was looking for were still there; the Klipsch Quintet III 5-channel speaker system for $250 normal shelf price $499) and a Klipsch Synergy Sub10 for $199 (normal shelf price $399).
The cashier line was much shorter by that time of the morning, and it only took me about 20 minutes to get through.
After leaving Best Buy, I decided to cruise by a few more stores. Office Depot was suprisingly slow and so was Sears Essentials. By 10:00 AM Compusa had, what looked like, a normal Saturday or Sunday crowd. Circuit City was really hopping, with several cashier lines slowly snaking through the store.
Last, a stop at Walmart. Busy, but not as busy as Fry's, which gets my award for busiest store on Black Friday this year.
I ended up back at home at about 11:00AM, about an hour longer than I expected.
For more details on my Black Friday "booty", advance to the next photo pages....