Doorbuster Secrets

Don't even suggest to Patty Corn that she spend the day after Thanksgiving recovering from the family feast. Every year, before the first glimmer of Black Friday dawn, the Allendale, NJ, mother of five is out the door just after 3:30 AM. With her two sisters and a supply of coffee, water and gum she's off to the door-buster wars, which she attacks with military precision: an electronics store first (for Wiis, iPods and cameras), then Macy's (if any of their dozen kids needs a coat), Kohl's (for before-noon specials), then a ski store ("because ski stores have deals too"). When she first started her dance-of-the-door-busters eight years ago, Corn says, it was all about saving money. Now, she says, "it's also become a hyper-focused power-shop. I do 70% of my holiday shopping that day." To discover the secrets of door-buster divas, read on.

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How do you snag the great deals? Start by strategizing early. "If you just roll out of bed at 10 AM on Black Friday and hit the store, you'll be disappointed," says Boston consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky, founder of www.dealalerter.com. Search newspapers and the Web for offerings from giants like Best-Buy and Wal-Mart and small local favorites. "And look at message boards for the buzz," says Dworsky. "Is the Toshiba laptop at Best Buys a piece of crap or really good?"

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Plot your route. Shop according to store hours don't go to Kohl's first if it opens two hours after Office Max and according to the highest priorities on your holiday list. Also check quantities (is the store door-busting only 10 Wii's?) and selling rules (are they giving out wrist-bands to the first 50 people in line? Are quantities limited to one personal DVD player per person?).

Pre-shop. A day or two before, see where the goodies are. Will GPS's be stacked behind the customer service desk? Will you have to run an obstacle course to get to the $699 42-inch flat-screens? And though we shouldn't be telling you this -- tuck away anything you can. "If you're planning to buy a piece of women's apparel, hide it in the automotive section," says Sam Pocker, a Queens, NY, consumer advocate and deal-buster pro. "If a guy finds it there, he's just going to say, 'What is this thing?' and walk away."

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Bring coupons. Last year, Dworsky snagged 46-inch Sony Bravia HD-TV for $701 less than a third of its list price by combining the retailer's door-buster with several other promotions, including an "instant-savings" coupon and a rebate for using the store's credit card. One year, Pocker got a DVD player at for less-than-zero at a Radio Shack door buster the item's rebate was bigger than its price tag. "Look for coupons for anything you might remotely consider buying on Black Friday," Pocker says. "If CVS offers saline solution for $10 and offers you a coupon for $3 off anything else now, you can use it to buy bread or eggs."

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Family matters. Don't bring the kids (they get antsy). Do shop in packs someone to grab a shopping cart, another to scout the aisles, another to stand in the checkout line (which can eat up precious hours). Rather than waste time looking for parking, have someone drop you off at the mall. And coordinate. "Two years ago, we said let's meet at Kohl's," said Corn. "We went to the one in Ramsey, NJ, and our sister went to the one in Paramus. We were going to kill her. We said, 'We've been here1-1/2 hours and we're not waiting.' She was almost ousted."

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Be prepared. Sure, you're more stuffed than the Thanksgiving turkey, but your stomach will be growling by mid-morning. Grab some coffee on the way to the mall it's cold on those lines at 4 AM and water, gum, trail mix and even a sandwich for later. And wear your most comfortable shoes; really, everyone's too bleary-eyed to care how you look.

And what if you miss a favorite door-buster, or over-sleep? Don't fret. Retail pro Dan de Grandpre, founder of DealNews.com, says that, this year, Black Friday deals are only the start. "A while ago, we predicted that one thing you'll see a 42-inch HD-TV for $600 on Black Friday. We already saw it a few weeks ago. It was like, holy cow, it's a month before Black Friday and stores are already that aggressive! When you look at Saks and Nordstrom already having big sales, prices will get a lot lower."

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Karen Hoxmeier, the Marietta, CA, founder of MyBargainBuddy.com, says that one alternative to the madness is to forego the "It" toy and over-hyped sales. "I do a lot of shopping throughout the year. If I see something in July that one of my kids might want, I buy in then and stick it away. The same if I see something on clearance in a store. I keep it in a gift closet."

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Wilson says another sanity-saver is to shop online. "The pricing will be the same or better. And one of the built-in benefits is saving sales tax. Even if the price is the same, you may be saving 10% if you live in Chicago. Then, there's the intangible of not having to stand in line at 6 AM the day after Thanksgiving."

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