DailyFinance's Matt Brownell is covering the Black Friday holiday shopping kickoff, starting Thursday evening. This article will be updated periodically with fresh details from across the country. And if you've got pictures or stories of your own shopping experiences, pass them along for us to share.
Attention holiday shoppers: Don't feel blue if you missed Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Retail analysts say the best deals are yet to come, with discounts growing deeper as Christmas draws nearer.
This Black Friday, here are a few things to whet your bargain-hunting "app"-etite: 5 mobile apps designed to help you nab deals during the holiday weekend shopping bonanza.
Switch on the TV or open the newspaper today, and you'd think there was only one day a year to get bargains: Black Friday. But if you're not careful, the year's most-hyped shopping day can be filled with traps. Here's how not to get bamboozled.
Occupy protesters want shoppers to occupy something besides door-buster sales and crowded mall parking lots on Black Friday. Some don't want people to shop at all. Others just want to divert shoppers from big chains and giant shopping malls to local mom-and-pops. And while the actions don't appear coordinated, they have similar themes: supporting small businesses while criticizing the day's dedication to conspicuous consumption and the shopping frenzy that fuels big corporations.
The holiday shopping season officially kicks off on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Actually, make that during Thanksgiving for some retailers. Here's a rundown of some of the items that will shape this holiday week.
Setting a new holiday shopping tradition, Macy's and Target will swing open their doors at midnight on Black Friday for the first time ever, giving shoppers a jump start on door-buster sales while offering an implicit challenge to their fellow retail brethren to follow suit.
From Nov. 1 until Christmas, Walmart says it will match prices with its rivals retroactively. Buy now, and if anyone advertises an identical product for a better price, go back to Walmart and claim a refund for the difference. But of course there's a catch -- more than one, in fact.
Here's the scoop on the holiday shopping season: Fewer people will camp out in front of stores before Black Friday this year in hopes of scoring hot deals on the "it" gifts. Instead, they'll use smart phones and tablets to comparison shop for the best prices, according to Accenture's latest survey.
Shopping at Walmart is your guilty pleasure, but would you share with your Facebook friends which store in the chain is your very favorite? The world's biggest retailer hopes you will, and it's launching more than 3,500 store-specific Facebook pages to connect shoppers with what's happening in their local aisles.
Consumers can expect a holiday shopping season heavy on promotional offers as stores offer sweet bargains on all manner of products amid a still-sluggish economy -- good news for buyers of tablet computers, smartphones and video games, all predicted to be big gift items this year.
Target is getting a head start on the biggest online shopping day of the year. The cheap-chic discounter sent out an email blast on Sept. 26 touting "Cyber Monday in September." "Lucky You. These Cyber Monday deals couldn't wait until November. Better hurry," coos Target.com.
Consumers will spend a bit more this holiday shopping season, but there will be fewer of them in stores, predicts research firm ShopperTrak. It forecasts that national retail sales will rise 3% during November and December compared to the year before, but foot traffic will fall 2.2%.
When it comes time for children both naughty and nice to make their holiday shopping lists and check them twice, they may have a few things in common. Click inside for a peek at why Toys R Us thinks these will be some of the hottest toys of the 2011 holiday season.
