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BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Special BlackBerry sale draws hundreds of people

Jonathan Bell
Created: Nov 27, 2010 10:00 AM
Bargain hunters: With Blackberry Smart phones going for as little as nine dollars, customers lined up on the sidewalk on Burnaby Street outside of M3 Wireless from as early as 6 am Friday morning waiting to get their hands on a new phone during the shop's Black Friday event.
People were queuing in the dark yesterday morning for the chance to grab a BlackBerry for just $9.A 'Black Friday' sale of phones by M3 Wireless in Hamilton — at the Burnaby Street store and the P-Tech outlet on Reid Street — resulted in long queues; on Burnaby Street in particular, a line of more than 100 people stretched down almost to Reid Street, with many waiting from before sunrise to take advantage of one-day special deals on BlackBerry phones.Marketing vice president Karen Pyo said M3 had been planning the sale for a month. "We've got five people on cash registers, plus a manager and security to help with the line. We've been running raffles and giving door prizes to keep people happy. I know it's been a long wait but I think most people understand."

People were queuing in the dark yesterday morning for the chance to grab a BlackBerry for just $9.

A 'Black Friday' sale of phones by M3 Wireless in Hamilton — at the Burnaby Street store and the P-Tech outlet on Reid Street — resulted in long queues; on Burnaby Street in particular, a line of more than 100 people stretched down almost to Reid Street, with many waiting from before sunrise to take advantage of one-day special deals on BlackBerry phones.

Marketing vice president Karen Pyo said M3 had been planning the sale for a month. "We've got five people on cash registers, plus a manager and security to help with the line. We've been running raffles and giving door prizes to keep people happy. I know it's been a long wait but I think most people understand."

Ms Pyo said it was hard to tell with so many people, but she estimated between 100 and 200 units had been sold by noon.

'Black Friday' is traditionally the start of the US Christmas shopping system. Ms Pyo said the name came from the accounting tradition of marking profits in black ink, versus recording losses in red ink.

"One of the reasons we did this here was we know retail sales have been declining. We wanted to encourage people to shop in Bermuda, so we decided to have our own Black Friday."

In any case, with BlackBerry devices much in demand, and sale prices for the day starting at $9 for a basic model (up to $399 for the BlackBerry Torch Smartphone), many were prepared to wait more than an hour to get one.

Many claimed the queue had begun at 6.30am. The business opened at 8am.

Pat Brangman said: "I've been here since 7.45am. I saw people who'd been here since 6.30am."

Still several places from the entrance, she added: "I've seen a lot of people get out of line because they had to go to work. I think if they want to have a Black Friday sale like in the States, they should act like the States and open up earlier."

Another woman in the queue said she had been to work, signed in and then come back: "A lovely young lady held my place in the queue. I told her, 'God sent you to this spot for a reason'."

One man said: "There were people camping here when it was still dark, sitting on chairs waiting to be first." Asked if he was purchasing holiday gifts he said: "This is just for me, me and I."