Patch’s Black Friday Preview

It is almost the Friday after Thanksgiving, and everybody knows what that means: the biggest shopping day of the year. No town in Southeastern Connecticut has more to offer as far as big box stores than Waterford, home of the chain.

This year will be different though than years past. No longer will customers have to stand outside and wait for 4 a.m. for the stores to open. Instead, they'll stand  outside four hours earlier, as many of the larger retailers will open midnight, or even on Thanksgiving itself.

Here is a store-by-store preview of all the big deals and promotions. Enjoy.

Best Buy

Best Buy, perhaps more than any other store, has taken the Black Friday promotion and just ran with it. This year Best Buy will open at midnight Friday.

The Doorbusters: $199 Sharp 42” LCD TV, $299 Samsung Laptop, $249.99 Tablet, $39.99 Toshiba Smart Blu-ray Player, $999 55” Samsung LED TV, deals on washer and dryers, movies, video games, phones, etc. 

Target

Target also opens at midnight Friday (this is going to be a prevailing theme). Doorbusters and deals are: $139.99 Xbox 360, $85 Amazon Kindle, $99.99 Kikon L105 Digital Camera, $99 dual screen DVD player (good for cars), $195 iPod Touch, $157 Acer Notebook, $88 ping pong table; deals on video games, DVDS, GPS devices, keyboards, vacuum cleaners, boots, kids toys and towels.

Walmart

Walmart will actually be open at 10 p.m., but then more deals happen at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The deals are: $248 HP laptop, $248 40” Emerson LCD TV, savings on all Samsung LCD TVS, savings on printers, cameras, video games, bikes (some bikes are $29), scooters, Power Wheels, DVDs, board games, clothes and just about everything else in the store.

The Crystal Mall

The Crystal Mall is having some stores open at midnight Friday. They are: Justice, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Aeropostale, Zap N Go, Game Stop, Pac Sun, American Eagle, Aerie, rue 21, Express and Hot Topic, according to the mall’s Facebook page. The mall itself though will not open until 4 a.m.

The Mall’s Anchors:

• Sears Deals: 30 percent off Kenmore appliances, deals on tools, $20 Curtis DVD player, 10 percent off everything in automotive on top of deals already, 24” LED TV for $159.99, deals on jewelry and kitchen appliances, deals on kids clothes such as jackets and jeans, deals on armoires, deals on colognes/perfume, deals on towels. 
• Macy’s: deals on cashmere crew-neck sweaters for women ($39.99), Tommy Hilfiger leather jacket ($99.99), boots (between $29.99 to $69.99), jewelry, kitchen items (40 percent off), boys and girls jacks ($15.99), luggage and plates/silverware.
• JC Penney: JC Penney has a ton of deals that are good Thanksgiving and Black Friday online, so you don’t even have to go to the store. They include: 65 percent off coats, 50 percent off Liz Claiborne, 50 to 60 percent off sleepwear, 50 to 70 percent off cold weather accessories, 50 to 60 percent off all rugs and most furniture, 70 percent off on St. John’s Bay polos, Cashmere sweaters and Arizona jeans; deals on boots, jewelry, kids clothes and luggage.

Small Business Saturday

There are probably a ton more deals at almost every store as well, and most of these deals can be had online as well. That said, save some money for Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday. While Waterford admittedly has few small businesses, there are many in New London, Mystic and Niantic.