Black Friday Shoppers, Come to the Tri-Cities in Michigan for the Best Deals

If you are north of the Detroit Metro area and do not want to deal with traveling to Detroit for your Black Friday shopping fun, why not try the Tri-City area? The Tri-Cities (Midland, Bay City, and Saginaw) and the surrounding communities have many of the same shopping options for Black Friday as the Detroit area, but there will not be as many people or as much traffic.

Bay City - Bay City, Michigan is a good option for shopping for on Black Friday. Compared to the other area cities, you will have fewer crowds. There are fewer crowds because there are not as many shopping options as in the other area cities. In Bay City, you will find Target, Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, Bath and Bodyworks, two Meijer stores, the Bay City Mall, and Menards. Bay City also has a downtown shopping area on the east side of the city. The shops in the downtown area are locally owned and will have their own Black Friday sales.

Midland - Midland, Michigan is about the same size as Bay City and only about 15 minutes from Bay City. Midland will have many of the same stores as Bay City but they also have Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael's, Kohl's, the Midland Mall, and Best Buy. There is also a downtown shopping area in Midland comparable to Bay City's. Midland's downtown shopping area is located by the Tittabawassee River are and the Tridge.

A main reason why some shoppers will choose Midland over Bay City is that most of the stores with the Black Friday ads are in the same area. If you get off the US-10 and Eastman road exit, you will just need to go north and you will find the major shopping complexes right there and most are interconnected so you will not have to keep driving in and out of Eastman Road to get to where you want. The parking lots will be more congested, but you will save on driving time. Another thing to remember about Midland is that if you need to use Eastman Road or US-10, there may be long lines to get out of the parking lot onto the roads.

SaginawTownship- Saginaw, Michigan is within 15-20 minutes of both Midland and Bay City. Saginaw is larger than Midland and Bay City, so there will be more shopping opportunities. Remember that you will want to stay in the Saginaw Township shopping area. Saginaw Township is north of Saginaw, the city. There is a lot of crime in the city of Saginaw, but when you visit the Township, crime rates are drastically reduced.

Saginaw Township will have all of the shopping options of Midland and Bay City and it has much more. The Fashion Square Mall will have a Disney Store, a Yankee Candle Store, Macy's, among many other stores. Saginaw Township will also have Toys R Us, Family Christian Store, Hobby Lobby, Gander Mountain, a large Best Buy, Linens N Things, among many other shops that Midland and Bay City do not have. There is no downtown shopping area in Saginaw to look for more sales, just the stores in Saginaw Township.

Frankenmuth - Frankenmuth, Michigan is fun place to go to for many Michigan residents all year, but especially at Christmas. Frankenmuth is called Michigan's Little Bavaria. Throughout the town, the shops are decorated in an Alpine theme. There are not nationally owned stores, so all of the shops will have to do their own Black Friday specials.

If you go to Frankenmuth, there is one place to be sure to stop and that is Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. This is the world's largest Christmas store. There are no Black Friday sales at Bronner's, but many families make this a Black Friday tradition to shop here. Many families also like to stop at either the Bavarian Inn Restaurant or Zehnder's Restaurant (they are across the street from one another) and have a traditional family feast on Frankenmuth Chicken.

If you do stop in Frankenmuth, make sure you are there after dark. Bronner's has road lit with Christmas decorations and the rest of the town is decorated along the main street.

Birch Run - Birch Run, Michigan is south of the Tri-Cities, but north of Flint. If you like to shop early on Black Friday, you need to go to the Outlet's of Birch Run. There are hundreds of stores to choose from and the best part, shopping starts at 12 midnight the morning of Black Friday.

The whole town of Birch Run will be chipping in to make shopping easier for the shoppers. The Birch Run Expo Center will open up their parking lot and have transportation to and from the outlet mall. Extra police will be out in the shopping mall on golf carts and bikes. Restaurants will be open all night for any late night/early morning cravings.

With all of shopping in the Tri-City area, why would you need to go to Detroit? Save yourself the travel time and traffic headaches. Come to the Tri-Cities on Black Friday or any other time. You will appreciate the trip.