The Smarmy Carny

Wal-Mart has changed the face of Black Friday.

After GottaDeal broke with Wal-Mart's BF ad extremely early last year, Wal-Mart has cracked down on the entire Black Friday leaks and changed their strategy regarding deals.

According to a CNNMoney story, Wal-Mart will add even more deals in addition to what is listed in their circular by posting another set of deals on walmart.com Thanksgiving Day.

Thus, Wal-Mart has given up hope of keeping their physical advertisements off of the internet until they are officially released. One has to wonder how many retailers might follow Wal-Mart's lead next year. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if some stores post additional deals to try and match the deals advertised by rival stores. That way, they can add new deals on more of a last-minute basis and still look like they're not trailing Wal-Mart in the Black Friday world.

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

As expected, once we hit the "2 weeks to BF" mark, the BF ads are really picking up steam now. The ads have now probably been printed and are in more people's hands, making them more readily available.

In addition to all the stores mentioned in the previous post, we have access to quite a few more stores already.

• Bass Pro Shop
• Costco
• CVS
• Ikea
• Kohl's
• Lowe's
• RadioShack
• Sam's Club
• Staples
• Target
• Toys R Us
• Tractor Supply Co
• Value City
• Walgreens

Keep in mind that these are all the stores that have been released in the past 30 hours! BF season is truly upon us!

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

Black Friday Deals!

On November 9, the Wal-Mart Black Friday ad scans were released! Besides Black Friday itself, this is easily one of the most anticipated Black Friday events of the year.

If you enjoy seeing the items rather than reading bland descriptions, take a look at the Black Friday scans available for download. Not all stores have scans available, but you can already download scans for Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, OfficeMax, Kmart, Linens 'n Things, Ace Hardware, EB Games, Harbor Freight, Fred's, and Boscov's.

I prefer to look through the text descriptions of sale items available at GottaDeal's Shopping Cart feature. Both the scans and lists of items for each store are available on their respective forum pages (registration required). So far this season, we have:

• Wal-Mart
• Best Buy
• Circuit City
• Sears
• KMart
• Kmart (Thanksgiving Day)
• OfficeMax
• K•B Toys
• JCPenney
• Linens 'n Things
• EB Games
• GameStop
• Ace Hardware
• Harbor Freight
• Military BX (AAFES)
• Boscov's
• Fred's

Hopefully this all helps you out in making Black Friday plans! Show up early and buy often!

Eccentric Holidays

Tonight, celebrate Haunted Refrigerator Night. Dig your way to the back of your shelves — especially the bottom shelf — and see what frightening items you might find.

What will you find tonight? Three month old eggs? Six month old cheese? That bagel with cream cheese from last Christmas? That moving mystery item that scurries away before you can grab it? Every year brings new, surprising adventures!

Haunted Refrigerator Night is copyrighted by Thomas and Ruth Roy and Wellcat Holidays.

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

Black Friday Deals!

GottaDeal has done it again! GD posted a listing of K-Mart's Black Friday specials! I guess this turns their "blue light specials" into "black light specials." Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

For the full list, be sure to head over to GottaDeal, because there are dozens of items on the list! There are lots of clothes that are 50% - 70% of (and some as low at $3.99). Much of the electronics will probably be bested by other stores, though. For instance, K-Mart has the Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera for $55.99 — an item you can buy today at Wal-Mart for just one dollar more.

GottaDeal has also posted a list of Thanksgiving Day sales from K-Mart as well. Take a look at those and show up before the turkey is done cooking!

To keep up on the very latest deals, rumors, tips and tricks for Black Friday this year, be sure to keep checking at GottaDeal's Black Friday forum!

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

Black Friday Deals!

GottaDeal has posted its first confirmed Black Friday ad! Today, they released the ad for Ace Hardware.

Included in Ace Hardware's Black Friday deals are items such as:

• George Foreman large electric grill — $19.99
• A DeWalt 14.4V cordless drill kit — $99.99
• A Huffy 12" Bicycle — $19.99
• Various Stanley hand tools — $1.99 each

The release of the first ad also brings the activation of GD's Shopping List feature! Once you have registered, you will be able to enter the Shopping List feature, click on any store with BF ads and add individual deals to your shopping list. The list shows you the item name and whether a rebate is part of the deal or not. You can also type in notes for each item, which will show up on your printable list. The list is, obviously, ideal for printing and carrying along on Black Friday. We have been promised even more shopping list features in the coming weeks!

To keep up on the very latest deals, rumors, tips and tricks for Black Friday this year, be sure to keep checking at GottaDeal's Black Friday forum!

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

Black Friday Deals!

Black Friday @ GottaDeal is up and running again for this year's Black Friday season! In the spirit of the season kicking off, I'm answering a few questions about Black Friday and GottaDeal. To keep up on my Black Friday posts, just keep an eye on the Black Friday category.

When is Black Friday?

Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving. In 2006, that will be Friday, November 24.

What is Black Friday?

Sales, sales, and more sales! It's the day to completely clean up on thousands of items. Save hundreds of dollars on large ticket items like computers and HDTVs. Get smaller items completely free. Jaw-dropping savings all over the place. It's the day to buy every single Christmas present for your entire family.

Of course, it's not called "Black" Friday because it's depressing, but because business often move from losses (red) to gains (black) for the year on this day. Though many people refer to this day as "the biggest shopping day of the year," this is not the case. The weekends preceding Christmas, along with Christmas Eve, top Black Friday in terms of sales. Black Friday is, however, the busiest day of the year as far as the number of shoppers.

How do you find out about Black Friday deals?

By far, the best place to find out about Black Friday before the deals are published is via GottaDeal.com's Black Friday site and forum. In addition, you'll want to buy the newspaper on Thanksgiving to get all the Black Friday inserts to make sure you're not missing any deals.

Why aren't there any ads posted yet?

If you're reading this any other month than October or November, it's because the ads are usually posted some time near the end of October. If you're really drooling for the information as soon as it's available, keep a close eye on the GottaDeal Black Friday forums for the information first. It's not as pretty when it first shows up, but you're getting the scoop! If you really just want an idea of what types of deals you can look forward to seeing, check out the thread outlining Black Friday deals since 2003. (Last year, GottaDeal posted deals for the following stores: Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us, CompUSA, Best Buy, K-mart, Sears, RadioShack, Costco, and many more!)

Why GottaDeal?

Whether it be GottaDeal's Black Friday page or the GottaDeal forums, the site is by far the Black Friday site. GottaDeal hosts most of the Black Friday ads (including scans of many of the ads) before anyone else. Right on the Black Friday page will be a list of store icons that will link to Black Friday deals as they pop up. Of course, you can also sign up for periodic e-mail alerts to keep up on the developments as Black Friday approaches.

GottaDeal also offer a few nice features on their Black Friday site. My favorite feature is the Black Friday Shopping List. Registered users can select Black Friday items from a list and add them to a personalized shopping list.

The forums are also an invaluable tool for communicating with others about deals and details. The community is quite helpful, and this year brings a better, easier to navigate layout in the Black Friday forums. Not only do the new ads show up here first, the community also scrounges for additional coupons both online and offline to increase your discounts and savings. Post a list of items you're looking to purchase on Black Friday and where you're headed, and someone might suggest which stores to hit first, or maybe even point out a better deal at a different store. Additionally, there is a Black Friday Basics section to answer FAQs like "Can I price match BF items?" and "Can I get BF deals online?"