Pocono News Section

Black Friday Shopping Preview

Black Friday Shopping Preview - Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 5:05PM EST

Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 @ 05:05pm EST
We're just hours away from one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Retailers, desperate to lure you in, are slashing prices and trying some new techniques.

A survey shows the number of people planning to shop Black Friday will increase by about 16% over last year. Perhaps tight budgets demand bargain prices. And retailers are responding.

Norm Welsh of Kmart says, "Every year is a competition. It's always about price."

Stores and online sellers competing for your dollars by pushing prices way down. Walmart touts 100 under$10.

This grandmom has 41 grandkids and great-grandkids to buy for. "These deals are good for me. Toys for ten dollars for kids. What more can you get," says Romayne Tattersall.

If you're in the market for electronics you can get some of the lowest prices ever. Greg Doherty of Consumer Reports says, “What we're going to see this Black Friday are bigger and cheaper TV sets."

But before you fall for a sale, Consumer Reports suggests doing research. Experts say more people will be using technology to find deals. There are comparison shopping websites and smart phone applications.

Amy Tekeyan of Wilkes-Barre says, "I use the internet whatever store has the best deal I go there."

Using social media sites like Facebook can also score you some savings. Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook says, "Sears has about 150,000 fans on their page, and they gave those fans the ability to shop their Black Friday specials earlier than everyone else trying to reward them for loyal business all year."

Tekeyan says she’s not brave enough to do Black Friday shopping. But experts say that’s okay because low prices will stick around."

Greg Doherty says, “The sales don't stop after Black Friday. They may even get better."

Which means the battle for your bucks is only beginning.

You can check out those Black Friday circulars online right now. Here are a few of them:

And according to Consumer Reports, many shoppers say they are finding just as many deals online as they are in stores. So you may be able to avoid the crowds and shop in your bunny slippers.

And we've got good and bad news about this season's hottest toy. They're little, battery operated, interactive hamsters called Zhu Zhu Pets. And they are quickly becoming the latest craze. They just spin around. The good news - they cost just 8 bucks at stores. The bad news --good luck finding them.

They're sold out of toys stores locally and online and are being sold on internet auction sites for $80.