Are we in the black yet?

My first Black Friday back in California! I decided to begin the day bright and early at 10:00 (that's when the stores opened, right?) at my local Toys "R" Us. Man was it packed! Packed but friendly. You'd never know they'd been open all night.

Next I headed over to the outlet mall. I figured it wouldn't be too bad, as they weren't the ones running doorbusters ads for the last two weeks. I was wrong. Couldn't even park it was so full. I guess the people headed to the outlets were there for the long haul.

So I turned by attention back toward Montclair Plaza (yes Claremont and Montclair are within spitting distance of each other, don't ask me who was in charge of names.) Anyway, J.C. Penny was full, but not packed--I didn't even have to wait in line (like I usually do at Penny's.) It is rare to actually see a person for every register they have.

I swung by Best Buy to see what the hot items were this year. People seemed pretty spread out through the store, but the line for the Geek Squad stretched across two aisles. I'd have asked someone in line why, but they seemed a grim lot. I had a good time checking out some new hardware, though!