Black Friday Sales in Saginaw, Michigan

This Black Friday in Saginaw, the action will be at Bay and Tittabawassee. Be prepared for the melee with these planning tips, a rundown of Saginaw's major Black Friday retailers, and a special bonus: a list of the quick, little-traveled backroad routes between the stores.

STRATEGY
Take a partner. This way one person can wait in the checkout line at the store while the other person grabs the deals. Since we're in Saginaw, I know you probably have Nextel phones, so make sure you have everyone's 2-way programmed into your phone, and stay in contact using it.

Gift receipts. Even if you aren't sure if you're purchasing something to give away or not, get a gift receipt for it. Be prepared with two or more forms of payment handy. Remember that most Saginaw stores now refuse to issue a refund other than store credit unless the item was paid for with cold, hard cash.

STORES
Black Friday sales in Saginaw will be centered around Bay and Tittabawassee. Because numerical addresses are difficult to find in this congested area, I'll be describing store locations colloquially. It's easier to remember that Best Buy is on Schust across from Fashion Square Mall than to remember it's at 4460 Bay Road.

See the links to the left for the latest "leaked" Black Friday ads for Saginaw's major stores, or check the newspaper Wednesday and Thanksgiving for the latest ads.

Electronics and Tech:
Circuit City - near Tittabawassee across from Fashion Square Mall, in the Target strip mall
Best Buy - near Schust across from Fashion Square Mall
There will be deep discounts on computers, video and audio equipment, digital cameras, and more. Beware: electronics retailers sometimes use Black Friday sales to dump discontinued and returned items. Know the risks, or make sure that 50 inch plasma TV is sealed in factory packaging before buying it.

Office stores:
Staples - in the Target/Circuit City strip mall
Office Max -in the Lowe's strip mall on Tittabawassee between Bay and I-675
Staples and Office Max will have Black Friday sales on computers, digital cameras, MP3 players, and the like. They often make a good second stop on a Black Friday shopping route as deep discounts on smaller items like blank DVDs and flash drives may remain in stock longer than the large items at the electronics stores do.

Super retailers:
Meijer - west of Bay on Tittabawassee
Wal-Mart - north of Tittabawassee on Bay
Meijer offers a huge variety of apparel, electronics, toys, and miscellaneous items for sale on Black Friday. Wal-Mart has fewer sales and it's a little out of the way for our purposes -- only include a Wal-Mart stop if they carry something you absolutely must have.

Department Stores:
Sears, JCPenney, and Macy's - these three stores anchor Fashion Square Mall
Kohl's - northwest corner of Bay and Tittabawassee
Target - behind Toys 'R' us on Fashion Square Boulevard
Sears sells everything from major appliances to heavy tools to electronics, jewelry, and apparel. It's a good choice for a Black Friday shopping pair to compromise on if each person wants something drastically different from the other.

Toys: Brave the madhouse of Toys 'R' Us, at Tittabawassee and Fashion Square, if you must.

SCHEDULE
This is the shopping trenches; efficiency is key! Make a list and map out your route. It really is easier to do on the computer: open Word or TextEdit and type out your list there. List your stops randomly at first, then copy/paste to reorganize in the order that is most efficient.

If you want to try for one of the 5 a.m. "super" doorbuster sales, go ahead, but choose only one. Your route will begin there.

Did you know there are back roads between nearly every retailer I've listed? Fashion Square Boulevard goes on past Target and with a little jog, takes you to Wal-Mart. The road next to Meijer curves around to meet Bay. The same road, as it passes Barnes and Noble, can be used to get to Bay across from Fashion Square Mall. And of course, Fashion Square Boulevard goes south not only to Schust, but all the way to Shattuck.

STRATEGY. STORES. SCHEDULE...SAGINAW. Print out your list. Charge your phones. Get a good night's sleep. Then, Friday morning, go get those deals!