Good morning, shoppers!

The roundup is coming early today, thanks to the fact I started working while most of you were asleep. But no worries. I have caffeine and I should stay awake long enough to write this entry.

Here’s what was going on before the crack of dawn:

• I drove into Best Buy at 2:30 a.m. to see a line that extended almost to the end of Office Depot’s storefront next door. Some had chairs. The more conditioned Black Friday shoppers had sleeping bags and tents.

The hot item of the day was a Toshiba laptop for $379. To prevent fights and too much chaos, store employees came out around 3 a.m. to pass out tickets to the first people in line. The ticket guaranteed that they would get the item, as long as they picked it up by 9 a.m.

How early did you have to show up to get one of these coveted tickets? I chatted with Mando Madrigal, a 17-year-old Grandview resident. Madrigal got the very last ticket. He came to the line at 8 p.m. Thursday.

“I guess I got lucky today,” he said with a laugh.

And he made a few new friends while waiting in line. How nice, a bargain and new social life. Not bad for waiting outside in the cold for nine hours.

• Many of you wonder if it’s worth it. To answer that question, let’s do some math. According to the Best Buy circular, shoppers saved $270 on the Toshiba laptop. Divide that figure by nine hours — the amount of time Madrigal waited in line — and you get $30. That’s the amount he saved per hour on the computer. That’s pretty good.

Although the Mayo family, who were first in line, began their wait at 7 a.m. Thursday, they still saved a little more than $12 an hour. Still not bad.

• For those who don’t know, Black Friday is a term that refers to the day after Thanksgiving when many retailers hope to be very profitable. In other words, to go solidly “into the black.” It’s a big day for retailers.

All right, I hope to have another entry later today with more Black Friday news and other retail and restaurant trends.

Until then, happy shopping. (And get some coffee.)

-- Posted by Mai Hoang