OK - I will confess.....I went out this year. I stopped going years ago when it turned into mayhem. That and our Xmas lists have gone down over the years...
We decided to get our DD and SIL an Ipad Air for Xmas this year. We had also decided to get one for ourselves for Xmas. Target -opening at 8pm - was offering $100 GC with the purchase of one. So we got there about the time they opened (I don't stand outside in the cold for
anything), walked to the end of this ridiculous line and followed the crowd in (DH "moo"-ing like a cow the whole time....that got a few chuckles). Once inside we had to get into a second line to get anything from electronics. Almost left at that point, but agreed if we went home, I would sit, eat and watch TV....and he would probably go to bed. So instead, I got my exercise in by walking circles around the store for 90 minutes, talked to some old friends I saw....meanwhile DH chatted with everyone in line. We finally got our 2 Ipads at a total cost savings of $230. So 2 hours of our time saved us $230, I got some exercise, saw some old friends, DH met some nice people. Everyone in line was really pretty low-key and pleasant.
Today I ran down to the local Dick's Sporting Goods to get a jacket on sale for my son. There was plenty of parking spaces and the store was not crowded at all. I was kinda surprised.
I probably wont go out for Black Friday for another 8-10 years, but we actually enjoyed the trip last night and today was a non-event.
Disclaimer - I don't like in a big city area. We have < 100,000 people
total in the 4 cities in the area. Pretty sure it is different in the more "metro" areas.