Wal-Mart starts 'Black Friday' early

At least one store isn’t waiting until Black Friday to unleash its deals. Rather than leaking its ads early, Wal-Mart is starting its electronics sales early, plus offering $20 turkey dinners for eight.

Wal-Mart will begin the first of several one-week “electronics savings events” on Saturday, Nov. 7. Here are the first week’s deals:

• HP Notebook Computer, $298. 3GB memory, 250 GB hard drive, Windows 7 Premium.
• Sharp 1080p HDTVs: 42-inch for $498, 46-inch for $698 (120 Hz), 52-inch for $898 (120 Hz).
• Panasonic 46-inch 1080p plasma HDTV, $788.
• Xbox 360 Arcade Console, $199 with $100 Walmart gift card (for use on future purchases). The company will stock at least 10 per store, which makes it sound as if you need to arrive early to get this deal.
• Sony Blu-ray player (model #BDP-S360), $148.
• Magnavox Upconvert DVD player (model #DP170MGXF, 1080p), $29.

Quantities are limited, no rain checks and there is a limit of two per customer on select electronics. While the Wal-Mart news release says these are one-week specials, the Web site says one-day specials, and it’s likely some will sell out quickly, so be prepared to shop Saturday if you want the electronics deals.

Does this mean you can skip that mad dash the day after Thanksgiving? Probably not, says Jon Vincent, founder of BlackFriday.info. “It won't replace Black Friday,” he says. The deals are good, but pretty comparable to its offerings last year, including a $298 Compaq laptop and a Playstation 2 bundled with a $30 gift card for $129.

Wal-Mart also is offering 12-pound turkeys for less than $5 (that deal started Nov. 4), or 40 cents per pound. Limit two per customer. This deal is good through Thanksgiving.

Wal-Mart’s $20 Thanksgiving feast for eight includes:

• One 12-pound Grade A turkey.
• Three 11 to 15.5-ounce cans Green Giant vegetables.
• Two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce.
• Three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing.
• One 5-pound bag of red potatoes.
• One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls.
• One 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake.

Related reading:

• Buy gift cards, get more free
• Black Friday: Kmart ad leaked
• Black Friday: OfficeMax's ad leaked
• Black Friday: Sears ad a snooze