12:02PM A Black Friday Marriage Proposal
This morning at Best Buy in the Mall of America, one of the VIP winners who got in early to Best Buy's Black Friday sales proposed to his girlfriend live on KSTP. The overjoyed Fiance to be, who just picked up the carpet shampooer she has always wanted, did say yes and it looks like this will be a Black Friday to remember for this couple.



The proposal was only fitting considering the winning entry submitted by Tina from Minneapolis, was about building a family tradition around Black Friday. Here winning entry below:

11:51AM First Comes Eve!
Our blogger's wife is out at the mall while he watches the kids, but she's reporting in for us that Eve toys (she was WALL-E's girlfriend) are selling better than WALL-E himself. Susan says, "I'm not seeing a lot of deals yet, but it's hard to see anything because you have keep seeing where in the crowd your cart is." At least in one part of Ohio, it's wall-to-wall people at the mall.

-Geoff Williams, Loveland, OH

11:18AM Wal-Mart Trampling Death
Well, it didn't take long for this Black Friday to turn sour. Here we are at the 11AM mark and there's this report on the AP wires: Wal-Mart Worker Trampled to Death. Now the New York Daily News has a gallery of pictures up, which you can view at your own peril. There's nothing untoward, but it is a lot of rubber-necking.

What happened was this: At a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, NY, a worker was trampled when unruly shoppers broke down the doors. A pregnant woman was also taken to the hospital.

With all the worries about bleak sales and the general forecast of gloom in the world, this is the last thing we all needed. Is it really so important to grab that cheap laptop?

11:07AM How much Richard Simmons can you take?
Here he is live in Herald Square in the wee hours of the morning. Photos courtesy of Ocean Spray, Macy's and WeberShandwick PR, who sent them along to us.


9:49AM Here's the latest news from CNBC:

9:20AM Think you're waiting/waited in a long line to go shopping today? Check out this hysterical (and extremely well-produced video) on the traffic going to the Waikele Premium Outlets last night. It's not your typical Black Friday home shopping video.



8:20AM Morning News Round-Up
From Louisville Courier-Journal: Fewer Shoppers at the Mall
From MichiganLive: Black Friday via a neat litle widget called "Cover It Live"
From the Sacramento Bee: Another CoverItLive example, with a team all over the Sacramento area
From Naples News: Liveblogging the madness
From the Atlanta J&C: Area Report, Plus Twitter Links
From CNNMoney: Shoppers Aplenty, Plus Chart of Past Sales Figures
From the AP: People Jam Stores for Black Friday Deals
From the Washington Post: Crowds Line Up, Prepare to Spend
From the New York Times: Retialers Offer Big Discounts, Then Pray
From the Wall Street Journal: Holiday Sales Blog: With the latest from the lines
From Bloomberg News: Latest Retail Forecasts


6:28AM Staples.com goes down
I woke up early this morning to pick up a good deal on a digital picture frame at Staples.com as a Christmas gift and as soon as 6 AM rolled around, Staples went down like a sack of bricks. For the past 15 minutes the site has bounced between not available and a page indicating that it will open with holiday specials at 6 AM; which was 15 minutes ago as I type this. While I realize that Staples only gets this kind of web traffic once; maybe twice per year, it's sad that they couldn't beef up their site servers to handle the load. From a consumer standpoint I feel like I waited in line and then the store manager showed up without her keys, or let anyone in; rather than those who waited in line all night.

6:26AM Richard Simmoms. 4am. Macy's. Need we say more?


6:14AM Camping Out at Best Buy
With 5 and a half hours left until store opening, Best Buy in Findlay Ohio already had 7 tents and between 40 and 50 people waiting in line with more piling into the parking lot as Thanksgiving drew to a close. The line was well stocked with cold weather gear and entertainment for the hours ahead. Those at the front of the line had already put in several hours of "camping" and will likely depend on leftover turkey and unprepared shoppers for sustenance as the RealFeel temperature drops to a chilly 16 degrees before Best Buy opens, according to Accuweather.com. One can only hope that no appendages or bladders fall victim to the long and cold wait on this hunt for the elusive HDTV!

6:12AM To HDTV or not to HDTV
While everybody else is sleeping off the turkey coma, I'm combing the sales circulars looking for deals I can't pass up. My goal ? a 42-inch HDTV at a good price.

Meijer has a 42-in GFM -- A Chinese company that gets mixed reviews -- for $499, but there are only 40 per store and I'll have to get up in a couple of hours to go stand on line for this deal.

For $544, ABC Warehouse, the local appliance discounter, is selling a 42-inch Panasonic. They only have 20 per store, but the stores don't open until 8 a.m., and there's a warehouse less than a half-mile from me.

K-Mart is selling a 42-inch Samsung for $699. Who thought that was a doorbuster that would have appeal? Even parent-company Sears is doing better than that. Sears is selling a 42-inch Sylvania for $699, but it's a 1080p ? a step up in picture quality.

Wal-Mart has a 42-inch Polaroid for $598 "while supplies last." Doors open at 5 a.m. and my bet is that they'll all be gone by 5:15 a.m.

Best Buy is selling a 42-inch Dynex, their house brand, for $599. It's a plasma -- the rest of these are LCDs. The circular says Best Buy is passing out numbers two hours before the doors open at 5 a.m. Ouch. This is Detroit. Standing outside at 3 a.m. sounds like a bad idea to me.

Here it is. Costco has the TV I want -- a 42-inch Sharp 1080p for $799 through Dec. 15. No need to get up early and stand on line. We already own one Sharp and the picture is terrific. $799 isn't a terrific deal, but it's not bad either.

I guess I'm too lazy to be a good Black Friday shopper.

11:52PM Here's a deal you won't see on your regular deal list:
South Carolina is offering tax-free guns as a Black Friday special. The Associated Press report says, "The so-called 'Second Amendment Weekend' is thanks to a little-debated amendment legislators tacked on this summer to a tax break for energy-efficient appliances." Let's just hope that things stay calm in the stores where guns are available, because if there's a run on Elmo dolls, things could get pretty ugly.

11:43PM What bust?
The lines are long and growing! At 11:15pm tonight, I was driving home from my parents' house to my own in Charlottesville, VA. Already there were a dozen cars and a small crowd of people waiting outside Wal-Mart, which won't open until 5am tomorrow. But then I passed Best Buy, and the line of people camped out in front of the door went nearly all the way down the sidewalk running the length of the front of the store. Best Buy also opens at 5am. It's currently 40 degrees out with lows below freezing. I hope these people have warm beverages and things to keep themselves entertained through the night.

11:38PM Just a little something to amuse you this evening on Black Friday.




11:29PM USA Today says that 128 million people will be out shopping starting now through the weekend. Will you be among those people?

-Josh Smith, reporting from Ohio.
-Geoff Williams, reporting from Loveland, Ohio
-Vanessa Richardson, reporting from San Francisco