This year’s shopping extravaganza will suit early birds and night owls alike.
More stores are opening at midnight on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday by many retailers. Stores at , as well as , and will pull their doors open at midnight on Nov. 25.
A few stores in Lake Saint Louis’s shopping center, , will also be opening at midnight, including Aeropostale, Charming Charlie, , and Victoria’s Secret.
Andrea Schwartz, vice president of media relations for Macy’s, said this will be the first year Macy’s stores have opened this early.
“This is really what the customers have been asking for,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said Macy’s employees have acted as ambassadors for customers who want earlier doorbuster deals and a longer time to shop.
As for what type of crowd these early doorbusters might bring in, Schwartz said all hard-core bargain hunters are likely to attend, whether they are night owls or not.
“I think we're going to get those shoppers that are extremely serious to find their bargains before everyone else,” Schwartz said.
Some retail stores are upping the competition even further by opening on Thanksgiving Day itself.
near Mid Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters will be open at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving. in The Meadows will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and will re-open at midnight the next day.
Hot Toy Trends This Holiday Season
Toys 'R' Us Public Relations Manager Adrienne O’Hara said the company's analysts identified four top toy trends for the holidays.
The first is what O’Hara calls “app-cessories.” App-cessories are toys that work with applications for iPads and other high-tech gadgets.
One app-cessory on the market this season is the Crayola iMarker, a digital marker that lets kids draw pictures in an iPad application. Kids can choose from 64 different colors.
The second toy trend is quirky characters, which are plush toys that each have their own unique look or feature. O’Hara said these characters are not like your average teddy bear.
“These are the kinds of characters that kids want to collect,” O’Hara said.
O’Hara mentioned Angry Birds and Ugly Dolls as examples.
"Reverse tech" is the third trend Toys 'R' Us analyst see this winter. Reverse tech toys are physical toys that work with video or computer games. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is one.
Kids plug in a figurine built for the game to play. The figurine then stores data about the character so kids can bring the toy to play the game on another game system.
The fourth and final trend O’Hara mentioned was "gross is good."
“We’re seeing so many toys letting kids enjoy gross fun without getting their hands dirty,” she said.
Creepy Crawlers Incredible Edibles Fright Factory, for instance, lets kids make gross-looking gummy body parts in different fruit flavors. Another toy that combines the ‘gross is good’ concept with quirky characters is The Trash Pack. The pack has collectable figurines in tiny trash cans, such as a banana peel and a worm.
Black Friday Doorbuster Deals
Patch and a few retailers helped pick out a few deals you may want to look out for this Black Friday. Click on the store name to see the full ad online at BlackFriday2011.com.
Macy’s (Open at midnight)
- Justin Bieber’s exclusive cologne with his CD, a scented poster and a downloadable song available
- Puffer jackets for boys, girls, and infants: $16.99
- Kenneth and Nautica winter coats for adults: $99
- Buy an American Rag sweater, get free pair of American Rag jeans
- Half-carat diamont studs: $200
J.C. Penney (Open at 4 a.m.)
- Select Nerf, Barbie and Fisher Price toys: $3.99 each
- 150 different styles of boots: $19.99 or $29.99
- Four-piece Protocol luggage set: $39.88
- Xersion down coat: $39.88
- Cook small kitchen electrics: $9.88
(Open at midnight)
- Sony Play Station 3 bundle with two games and a 30-Day Playstation Plus membership: $199
- Fisher-Price Laugh And Learn learning table: $26.99
- Razor Hot Wheels folding scooters: $20
- 100 percent cotton flannel sheet set: $16.99
- Apple 8GB iPod Touch with a $40 Target gift card: $195
Best Buy (Open at midnight)
- $60-$200 off Apple iMac desktops
- Garmin Nuvi GPS navigation system: $84.99
- Toshiba Smart Blu-ray disc player: $39.99
- Barnes & Noble Nook eReader: $79.99
- Sharp 42" LCD HD-TV: $199.99
Sears (Open at 4 a.m.)
- 60 percent off fleeces for girls, boys, toddlers and infants
- Dearfoams slippers: $9.99
- iHome space saver alarm clock: $29.99
- Cannon Egyptian cotton bath towels: $4.99
- Craftsman four-piece barbecue gift set: $17.99
- Hamilton Beach 4-quart slow cooker: $9.99
- 50 percent off all Christmas shop items
- Free Craftsman 13" tool bag if you buy more than $20 worth of tools
(Open at midnight)
- 40-50 percent off select robes for men, women, juniors, and kids
- 60 off all women’s fashion accessories
- 40-55 percent off all watches
- Sonoma Life And Style Torrance five-piece luggage set: $44.99
- Cuisinart 18-piece stainless steel cutlery Set: $59.99
- Croft & Barrow quick-drying bath towel: $3.99
- Chi Air fuschia 1" classic ceramic flat iron: $79.99
Bass Pro Shops (Open at 6 a.m.)
- Primos The Escape Ground blind: $79.97
- Wildgame Innovations IR4 scouting camera: $49.97
- Enigma Smart Cast reel and rod combo: $59.97
- Leupold Rifleman QDManager riflescope: $169.97
- Kevin VanDam Big Bass Challenge with fishing rod controller for Wii: $19.97
(Open at 5 a.m.)
- Lounge pants for juniors: $3.99, girls and boys: $2.99, men’s: $4.99
- Extra 50 percent off all Barbie and Zhu Zhu Pets stock
- Gift boxed jewelry: $5.99
Disclaimer: Patch does not guarantee these deals will be available all day on Black Friday. BlackFriday2011.com is a private site and may not reflect all in-store deals.
