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This is the time of year for holiday open houses and Christmastime donation events that help the needy. Several local stores are hosting these kinds of events in the next week. Here are the details:

Nov. 30: Holiday Open House at Willow Grove at the Forum Shopping Center in Southwest Roanoke County, 1 to 4 p.m. Floyd artist Anne Vaughn will host a jewelry trunk show. Also, well-known author, Carol Aebersold, will visit to sign copies of her children's book, "Elf on the Shelf." It details how families have started traditions with their children by setting up an elf doll in the house during the Christmas season. The elf reports to Santa about whether the child is naughty or nice, and it's proven to improve children's behavior. Click here for more information about the book.

Dec. 1 to Dec. 13: Chick-fil-A Toy Drive--You can win a free peppermint chocolate chip milkshake by bringing a new unwrapped toy to certain Chick-fil-A locations. They include restaurants in the Roanoke Valley, Christiansburg, Martinsville, Lynchburg and Danville.

Dec. 5: Holiday Open House at West Village in Southwest Roanoke County, 6 to 8 p.m. Participating retailers will be open and serving refreshments.

In case you're wondering what the Black Friday shopping frenzy looked like in the New River Valley today, here are some details from reporter Amy Matzke-Fawcett:

About 20 people were waiting in line at Best Buy in Christiansburg around 8 p.m. Thursday, bundled up against the cold with hats, coats and gloves, waiting in lawn chairs and equipped with sleeping bags.

Jack Noble and his daughter Anna of Salem had been in line since 3 p.m. Thursday to get the early bird “doorbuster” sale tickets Best Buy hands out around 3 a.m. for the 5 a.m. store opening, Jack Noble said. They were planning to buy laptops.
“We got here at 2 a.m. last year,” Anna Noble noted.

It’s the second time the Nobles have stayed over at the Christiansburg Best Buy. The two previous years they arrived at the Roanoke Best Buy at 3 a.m. to wait, but when the Christiansburg store opened in 2007, they decided to make the trip from Salem because they thought the store would be less crowded.

This year is one of the warmer years, Jack Noble said. Last year, the temperature hovered around 18 degrees, he said.

In Blacksburg, a line stretched around the First & Main shopping development, which was celebrating its grand opening by giving away $5 bills to the first 2,000 customers, starting at 10 a.m.

About 1,000 of the five dollar bills had been given out by around 10:20 a.m., said Stuart Moss, advertising director for MACS, the advertising firm in charger of the opening. Serial numbers of some of the bills corresponded with prizes, including goody bags, Elizabeth Taylor’s “White Diamonds” body spray, two liters of Pepsi and prizes from various merchants.

“We’re trying to make it a great shopping day and a great experience for everyone,” Moss said. “It gives us the chance to have everyone see the stores and what we have to offer.”

Teresa and Andy Ko of Blacksburg had been waiting in line since around 9 a.m. to try to win prizes to give to a friend. 

“We’ve heard all kinds of rumors about what the prizes are and what’s going to happen, but we don’t know what’s true,” Teresa Ko said.

The couple ultimately didn’t win a prize, but decided to stay and shop anyway. The original plan was to drop 10,000 $1 bills from a helicopter hovering over First & Main, but it was changed after town officials called the plan too risky.

If the economy is impacting the pace of holiday shopping, it was not obvious today in the wee morning hours of the annual kickoff to the Christmas shopping season in the Roanoke Valley. In fact, some people told me that the Black Friday doorbuster deals were more important than ever this year.

At least 50 people lined up outside the doors of the Disney Store at Valley View Mall, which opened at 3:30 a.m. It was one of the first local stores to open, with a string of others following at 5 a.m., including Best Buy, Toys R Us and Home Depot.

The line of eager shoppers waiting for Best Buy’s doors to open stretched nearly to PetsMart by 4:30 a.m.  Store manager, Rick Chappelear, said the line was as long as last year, though this year, people did not line up as early.

The first people in line arrived at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

Inside Target, particularly in the electronics and toy departments, there was barely room to move between aisles as consumers on a mission for bargains pushed and pulled their red shopping carts.

And in the first four minutes that Valley View Mall’s customer service department opened at 5 a.m., the mall gave away 200 goodies bags filled with treats, including a $300 mall gift certificate. That’s much faster than last year, said Ashley Likens, the mall's marketing manager. Last year, customer service associates had to remind shoppers about the giveaways.
“People really wanted that deal" this year, Likens said.

Gretchen Goodwin of Raleigh, N.C., has never before ventured before dawn for a Black Friday shopping spree. But this year, Goodwin, who was visiting her family in Vinton for Thanksgiving, was on a mission to buy a Guitar Hero III game bundle for her son. And she needed to find it cheaper than its regular $130 retail price.
At Best Buy today, she paid $80 for the game set.
“I wasn’t going to spend $130,” Goodwin said, while she waited in line with her purchase. “That’s $50 more than I can afford.”

After Best Buy, she was off to Kmart for other deals, such as a Craftsman’s tool table for her son. There the table is selling for $10 cheaper than its original price, Goodwin said.

At Target, Crystal English loaded up on toys for her son and several children whose names she chose from the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree.
Many of the toys that she purchased, including a Disney Pizar Cars toy, were discounted 50 percent or more.
Shopping on Black Friday “is going to help me out a lot financially this year,” said English of Roanoke.

Let me know how your Black Friday experience was today and share your assessment of the shopping crowds.

Happy Thanksgiving! Are you thankful for coffee and shopping? Well, some local stores and coffee shops are open on this day of thanks.

Consider it a chance to take a break from your Thanksgiving Day guests by heading out for hot drinks. It's also an opportunity to get a head start on the Black Friday shopping madness.

Kmart, Gander Mountain and Hamrick’s are some local stores that are open today. Also, some area Starbucks and Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea locations are brewing coffee and other beverages.

This is the second year that Gander Mountain stores nationwide have been open on Thanksgiving Day from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“The afternoon is when people are looking for something to do; get out of the house and walk off that turkey,” said Casey Ramm, who is vice president of marketing for Gander Mountain.

The shorter, six hour day allows Gander Mountain stores to employ only one shift of associates. And the stores are offering Thanksgiving-only deals. For example, if you spend $100 you receive $20 in “Gander bucks.”

Here are some of these local Thanksgiving Day store hours:

Gander Mountain: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Hamrick’s: 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Kmart: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Starbucks: Hours vary at different locations. The Roanoke Starbucks( Southern Hills Drive) is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Salem Starbucks is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea: Hours vary for different locations. The downtown Roanoke shop is open from 8 a.m. to Noon. The Salem location is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Attention Black Friday shoppers! If you plan to shop tomorrow, comment here on the blog about the deals that you land. And don't forget to tell me your stories about surviving this super shopping day. I'll see you bright and early at the stores!

Steve & Barry's at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County will close by Jan. 9. That's according to Sandy Feldman, who is senior vice president with Great American Group, one of the firms handling the Steve & Barry's liquidation process.

The apparel retailer said this week that it will close 173 of its remaining stores across the country. Last week, Steve & Barry's announced that liquidation sales would take place at all of its stores. Here's my blog post with those details. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, and later, it was acquired by investment firms.

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, there is some good news for shoppers. The going-out-of business sales already have begun at Steve & Barry's stores, and they are expected to last five to seven weeks. Feldman said initially, items will be discounted by 10 to 20 percent. These discounts will grow deeper as the end of the year approaches.

All Steve & Barry's stores must close by Jan. 9, based on a deadline set by the bankruptcy court, Feldman said.

Today, many of you likely are thinking about the yummy foods that you'll be eating tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day. But if you plan to shop on Black Friday or this weekend, I'm sure deal finding also is on your mind.  

In a story today about Black Friday, I discussed some local retailers that are getting into the price slashing action this year for the first time. They're trying to drive sales in the slow economy.

A special Black Friday deal at a local men's clothing store also came to my attention. Davidsons Clothing for Men, located in downtown Roanoke, is giving away $50 gift certificates to a downtown restaurant, Trio Bar Bistro Bottle. But here's the kicker: You have to spend $500 at Davidsons this Friday or Saturday to win the free meal money.

I found out some news today about a long-time candy and gift store that will shut its doors at the end of this year. Rita Bruffey plans to close Good Things on the Market, a shop that she opened 23 years ago. It's located on Market Street in downtown Roanoke.

Bruffey is retiring from the retail business, and her store lease will be up at December's end.

Here's good news for the holiday shopping season. Bruffey is trying to clear out her merchandise. Through next month, she has discounted the price of gift items by 50 percent.  But the candy, including the shop's popular fudge, still is full price. Sorry chocolate lovers!

Today feels like the warm-up to the Super Bowl. That's the Super Bowl of shopping, of course. The holiday shopping season officially begins at the end of this week. Are you ready?

Despite the economy's shape, retailers are preparing with super deals for Black Friday. Click here to read my former blog post on some Black Friday sneak peak Web sites.

In case you're pondering toy gifts for the children in your life this year, I'll leave you with the top toys for girls and boys for 2008, according to the National Retail Federation.

For girls, this year, Hannah Montana jumped four spots to No. 2, though she didn't outpace Barbie. For boys, Star Wars and Hot Wheels toys reemerged on the list, after falling off in previous years.

The NRF's holiday survey found that 41.6 percent of consumers plan to buy toys this year.

Top toys for girls:

1. Barbie

2. Disney's Hannah Montana

3. Dolls (generic)

4. Bratz

5. Nintendo Wii

6. Video games

7. Elmo

8. Disney's High School Musical

9. Disney princesses

10. American Girl

Top toys for boys:

1. Video games

2. Nintendo Wii

3. LEGO

4. Cars (generic)

5. Transformers

6. Elmo

7. Star Wars

8. Hot Wheels

9. Remote controlled vehicles

10. Xbox 360

By now, you've probably heard about an email that's being circulated nationally, claiming that a large group of retailers are shutting down stores. While the information is accurate for some of the retailers, it's false for others. Some of the retail companies, including Talbots and Ann Taylor, are refuting the email as a hoax. This story has additional details.

This weekend I received the below email message from Ann Taylor, a women's apparel chain, discussing the apparent email hoax:

It has come to our attention that false and misleading information, regarding our Company and our store closure program, is circulating on the Web, as part of a hoax to scare consumers away from purchasing gift cards. Ann Taylor is a financially strong Company that operates nearly 1,000 Ann Taylor, LOFT, Ann Taylor Factory and LOFT Outlet stores across the U.S. In January 2008, we announced plans to close some underperforming stores as part of a strategic restructuring program to make us an even stronger Company that can continue to serve you in the future. Our gift cards continue to be a popular and great option for gifting this Holiday season and can be redeemed at any of our stores, as well as online at anntaylor.com and anntaylorLOFT.com. We look forward to serving you again soon!

Kay Krill

President and Chief Executive Officer

Ann Taylor Stores Corporation

If you visit the Hampton area next summer, you may be interested in checking out a new Target prototype store that's slated to open there. The discount retailer's prototype will house a much larger grocery section with fresh produce and meats, an effort to compete more directly with Wal-Mart.

According to this story, the new store be a mix between a general merchandise Target and a Super Target. It's set for the new Peninsula Town Center, a mixed-used development with stores and restaurants.