Get ’Em While They’re Hot

We’re hesitant to cite Black Friday sale prices, which a handful of Web sites have leaked over the last several years.
For one thing, as an adherent of Old School journalism, TWICE still embraces such quaint concepts as fact-checking, verification and identified sources.
For another, we wouldn’t put it past some wily retailers to throw off the hounds by floating false circulars.
That said, the ad scans posted by BF sites in advance of Thanksgivings past have been pretty much on the money. And, based on the current crop, it would appear that Black Friday could be more of an afterthought than the bloodbath many anticipated.
This season, the trend to push up the promotional calendar (i.e., back-to-school sales in July) has turned most of November into one big Black Friday event. Among the Pre-Thanksgiving promotions:
• regular weekend doorbusters at Sears (including a 42-inch Zenith 720p plasma for $500);
• week-long CE specials at Walmart (including a 42-inch Sharp 1080p LCD for $498);
• a 15.4-inch Acer laptop at Best Buy for $250; and
• a 58-inch Panasonic 1080p plasma for $1,500 this weekend at hhgregg.
Those prices we can print. What’s more, they seem to be at least as compelling - if not more so - than the deals that will supposedly be sprung in the wee hours of Nov. 27.
So unless CE retailers have something really special up their sleeves for Black Friday, like the $400 42-inch flat panels we’ve heard so much about, consumers better get ‘em while they’re hot.