Don't be jealous, we'll be in San Francisco on Black Friday, and ThanksGiving!
Problem is we are leaving soon after. So internet shopping is perhaps not feasible.
So questions to all the season Black Fridayer.:
What are some of the stores we can visit? With the least elbowing LOL.
Items are nearly everything except gaming and bulky stuff.
Favorites are clothings, shoes, handbag, household, technology.
Hubby already has Kindle and iPad mini on his list.
What if you're buying it to sell for profit in Australia?
Try the Levis store or Old Navy.
i've done black friday a few years ago, just to experience it not really to buy anything, and believe me its a WHOLE different level of crazy. I would not bother doing it again, especially for clothing/shoes and that. The big ticket items are worth it (the year i went, there was Dyson's for $50 and 42" LED TV's for $99)
IF you do decide to do it, have a clear plan in mind and know the layout of the store and know your sizings
Arc'teryx clothing.
their technical gear, not casual clothes.
get some for me too.
If you want electronics, which have multivoltage, then these are usually good choices. America is 110 volt so dont consider normal household electronics. Look for good quality clothing. I got a great lambskin jacket for a song a number of years back from Macey's.
Look at Amazon for online; they can have short delivery times.
be a decent human being. if you record any fights, make sure its not vertical video
I am working on rig, with a swivel mount harness to rotate the viewer, just for such videos.
I think this will be an industry distrupter
Check the Sears list of closing stores. Could be serious bargains after their recent troubles.
Hanes outlet, I think outside SF in Milpitas Great Mall might be good. CK outlet is there too.
Sign up to amazon prime. US/AU are separate so you’ll need to put your hotel address in. You should be able to get a free trial.
Most things will take a couple of days at the most.
Hubby already has Kindle and iPad mini on his list.
iPad mini hasn’t been updated yet. I wouldn’t bother buying one. Kindle will go on sale before Black Friday. Keep an eye on amazon I think you can even set up alerts on the amazon app when something drops in price.
DO NOT buy kitchen applicances or personal applicances unless you are certain they support 240v!!
Not much SFO specific advice so far so I'll give it a go. Does depend on where you're staying and if you have a car, will assume you're staying around Union Square or downtown SF.
Best option - Union Square and Westfield SF
Pros: everything is walking distance
Cons: plenty of elbowing, especially in the departments stores and at Westfield mall
Alternative Day 1 or a Day 2 option - Burlingame
Pros: outdoor suburban shopping strip, so less elbowing compared to downtown
Cons: less variety than downtown, needs a car to get there or be able to Caltrain it there from the 4th St station
Check the Burlingame directory if the variety of stores suits you, it may be better for a Day 1 afternoon shop or a Day 2 shop as you won't get as many stores compared to above.
Day 2 or Day 3 option - Outlet shopping 40 miles out of SF
Pros: everything is close together so less walking
Cons: likely need access to a car as it's a 1hr drive
No US shopping experience is complete without an outlet visit, locals will usually go here for their Day 1 Black Friday shopping. We usually drive there with relatives but you may want to research bus transport options as I'm sure there'll be plenty of services to/from the outlet during Black Friday weekend.
Also some pro tips:
- Check store openings beforehand, midnight (or even earlier) openings are increasingly popular recently
- Start early as soon as stores open (4-5am), you likely want to hit clothes stores first to get your sizes
- When checkout queues get really long (30-60m waits to reach the registers), get one person to line up early and the rest keep shopping
- Most stores offer deep discounts which end mid-morning or noon (eg. 50% off until Friday 12pm, 30% thereafter) to incentivise shoppers to visit their store first
- Each person take a large empty suitcase with them to hold your purchases, it'll save you carrying 10 bags in each hand at the end of your shopping trip.
- Most hotels will accept online shopping deliveries, but check with them first as each hotel will have a different mail hold policy (eg hold for 7-14 days), so ideally hit the purchase button the week before you arrive. Concierge will likely hold your packages, it's customary to tip around USD $1-2 for each small package or $5+ for anything oversized.
This. The Macys at Union square is probably second only to NYC for bargains. Just be prepared to leave a little piece of your soul behind…
Not sure what happened to my post yesterday….
I thank everyone esp Bengal and cant find my post now…
So here I go again, thank you all for sharing, I will definitely check on all your recommendations.
I might not post each time because too busy packing and handover stuff.
Cheers!
Bon Voyage and have a great time. We want an update when you get back as to what you got. Don't forget your TRS limits.
Thanks Dear. Will do.
I was just trying to search on California TRS and didnt get anything quickly. Was reading that Sales Tax is not refundable. Do you happen to know the quick link to this subject?
I meant ours on the way back in. You have to watch your $900 limits.
never really bothered trying to get sales back from States in America.
Got this off the internet.
California sales tax is unfortunately not refundable for international visitors. The taxes are calculated at the time of sale and can only be exempted when, at the time of purchase, a tax exemption card is presented. … No, California does not offer sales tax refunds to foreign visitors on purchases.
@try2bhelpful: Ya, that's the one I saw.
I remember when we were in Dallas a few years ago, the shopping mall has an office for TRS!
I was too exhausted by then, and couldnt be bothered waiting for them to process…..
Do you think Oz Custom would be strict on the $900 limit?
@Pumpkin_rrr: Just don't make it obvious and you'll be fine.
You get back with 3 large screen TVs (I have no idea why you'd bother) and try and walk through customs you'll be pulled aside.
@Pumpkin_rrr: if you are bringing back any expensive clothes I would try to wear them over there so they are in your dirty washing when you bring them back. We have been pulled over for baggage check once coming back into Australia - random check and the only thing we had to declare was chocolate - which we thought was cute until we found out that someone had smuggled a whole bunch of drugs back in their chocolates the previous week.
If the device is "used" then the customs guys can discount the value of the goods. When we were over in the US for four months I bought a laptop and the guy discounted it to below the limit at that time because it was used. He was great and he didn't need to worry about the paperwork.
The main problem is they won't be strict, until they are.
Why don't you just buy what you need and nothing else.
A bargain is buying something you needed at a great price, not buying unneeded items