B&N Nook Sale Report

I stopped in the local B&N this afternoon, to check on the $90 Off Tablet Sale and the NOOK Book Two-for-One Weekends Offer. There were posters everywhere on the "special price" on the Nook HD and HD+. Gone, though, were the old "$50 Free Content" offer posters, which means that the price on the smaller tablet was essentially the same (assuming you would buy some content at B&N). For B&N Members, who received the coupons in the mail for $50/$90 off a tablet - all B&N did was extend the exact same sale to everyone, rendering the "exclusive coupons" sent to you essentially worthless (no special price for members, no kickback as a gift card, as they've done in the past, no special bonus content on an SD card). You can get the same price at BestBuy this week, so if you are in the market for a new Nook Tablet, buy at whichever one gives you the best perks (BestBuy Rewards members probably come out ahead on this one).

As for their NOOK Book Two-for-One Weekends Offer, which specifically says that you get to choose which book to pay for -- in the store instructions (only; not on any online offer details and they had exactly zero posters up about this deal, so only those who knew about the sale before coming to the store would have a chance to take advantage of it), the store was instructed to give you the cheapest book free, regardless of which book you told them you wanted to pay for. I wonder how many handed over their credit cards and never looked to see that they paid for the more expensive book?

In any case, we skipped both sales and the Weekend Offers will have to be quite enticing (and have two books at close to the same price, I suspect) to lure me into the store on a weekend, just to take advantage of the sale. Especially since the cafe is so crowded on the weekends and you have to wait to get a table (unlike during the week, which makes you wonder about the timing of the sale, since they are much more deserted during the week).

Update: I tried the coupon code for the $90 off the HD+ tablet online and it actually worked, taking an additional $90 off (would have been $50 off the HD). I have no idea how long this will continue to work or if B&N will actually ship the ones ordered with this steep discount, but it's worth a shot for those who received coupons in the mail.