The Countdown to Black Friday: Chittenden County Vermont

Black Friday. The so-called holiday can either instill fear, draw groans, or have shoppers giddy with excitement. In Chittenden County, Vermont, stores are gearing up for the shopping season. Higher heating fuel, electricity, and gasoline costs have many store owners fearing the worst for this holiday season, so they are slashing their prices in an outstanding effort to draw shoppers from their homes this Friday.

In Chittenden County, there are three key areas for shopping: Mapletree Place in Williston, the University Mall in South Burlington, and downtown Burlington's Towne Center Mall on Church Street. In past years, the highly discounted sales have led to skirmishes and full-blown fist fights over in demand items. In some states, robberies and even shootings have occurred over low quantity items. This behavior is ludicrous and really goes against the spirit of the holidays.

For those who want to go shopping, it is advised to arrive at stores at least an hour before they officially open. All stores selling limited amounts of items use a ticket system so that the first shoppers in line for a store are the ones to receive these high-demand items. If you are seeking popular items this year, remember to use common courtesy and act like adults, not children, when shopping. If you don't get your child's dream gift, so be it. It is far more responsible to teach a child that life can be disappointing at times and that it is best to handle it with grace and wait until the item is available.

Burlington Towne Center in downtown Burlington will open mall doors at 6 a.m. Anchored by Old Navy and Macy's, the mall generally doesn't get the same amount of traffic as other area shopping centers. Parking is going to be free for the holidays, which makes it a nice draw this season. Old Navy is boasting sales of 50% off many items in the store. The fleece pullovers at $7.25 will be a hot item! Old Navy is also giving out free MP3 players to anyone spending more than $20 (while supplies last.) Macy's is not releasing information at this moment and want their ads kept private until Thanksgiving Day.

Mapletree Place in Williston is one of the hottest areas for shopping on Black Friday. With huge box stores available to discriminating shoppers, Mapletree Place's variety of restaurants, boutiques, chain stores, and free parking make this a popular destination. Shoppers can choose from: Bath, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Christmas Tree Shops, Circuit City, Dick's Sporting Goods, Home Depot, Linens & Things, Marshalls, PetSmart, Staples, Toys R Us, Walmart, and Yankee Candle. At the current time, Christmas Tree Shops, Dick's Sporting Goods and Linens & Things are holding off posting their ads until Thanksgiving Day.

Bed Bath & Beyond is offering a $5 coupon used towards any purchase of $15 or more. Hot deals include Yankee Candle gift sets for $9.99, neon beer signs for $29.99, and a digital wallet-sized photo album for $29.99.

Best Buy plans to open their doors at 5 a.m. Among their huge bargains, shoppers will find a 50-Watt, 4-channel, Ipod compatible auto stereo system for $129.99. AT&T's pre-paid Go Phone will be selling for $5.99. A Toshiba A135 Laptop and Canon Printer Package will be selling for $229.98. The Sony Cyber-Shot 7:2 MP Digital Camera will be selling for $99.99. For the wine connoisseur, the Oster 12-Bottle Wine Cellar is a huge bargain at $57.79. Many top CDs and DVDs will be selling for under $10.

At Mapletree Place's Circuit City, Cobra Radar/Laser Detector Units will be priced at $29.99. SIRIUS Satellite Radio systems start at $19.99. All purchases come with a free ten-pack of Fuji mini DVD-Rs. Polaroid's A520S Digital Camera will be selling for $49.99. Some of today's hottest movies (007 Die Another Day, Hitch, etc.) are priced at $3.99.

Home Depot is going to be opening at 6 a.m. Electric Fireplaces will be selling for up to 50% off. Patio heaters will start at $99. For toys, the North Pole or Santa Fe Express six-car remote controlled train sets will be selling for $24.95.

Marshalls does not release store flyers. Affiliated with TJ Maxx, there are rumors that cashmere sweaters will be selling for less than $40. The clearance racks are usually filled with unusual finds that can help people save plenty of money on gifts. Marshalls will have chocolates, coffee baskets, and other specialty gifts with slashed prices.

Staples is opening at 6 a.m. Motorola Bluetooth Headsets are selling for $14.99. Compaq Dual-Core Laptop bundles are $349.98. SanDisk 2 GB Flash Memory cards are priced at $14.98. Norton Systemworks is free with an upgrader rebate. Staples is also offering a 42-inch flat panel LCD HDTV for $749.98.

Toys R Us is opening at 5 a.m. A Coby Portable DVD player is selling for $19.99. Children will love an air hockey table, and parents will love the $39.99 sales price. Crayola items are selling with a Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer. All GameCube and Xbox games will be selling at 50% off the retail price. Guitar Hero wireless guitar controllers are selling for $19.99. Nintendo DS bundles are priced at $149.99.

Walmart opens at 5 a.m. The store is usually known for incredible Black Friday bargains. This year is no different. Verizon's Inpulse Chocolate cell phones will be selling for $98.82. Slippers start at $4. A Compaq Presario 1GB RAM desktop bundle is selling for $398.00. Guitar Hero I and II bundles for the PS2 will be selling for $39.82. The Xbox 360 Console Bundle is selling for $279.92.

At the University Mall, Star 92.9 will kick off the shopping season with a live broadcast outside of JCPenney. The mall is hosting a number of contests including the chance to win $100 gift certificates for every month of the year. They are also giving away a Ski-Doo to one lucky winner. Shoppers have extra incentive to spend their money within the mall. All shoppers who head to the courtesy desk with $75 in store receipts receive a free collectors-edition print of a Snowflake Bentley snow crystal. University Mall kicks off Black Friday with regular musical performances from area bands and the appearance of Santa and Mrs. Claus. On Black Friday, the mall will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

At the University Mall, the four anchor stores (Bon-Ton, JCPenney, Kohl's, and Sears) are kicking off Black Friday with huge sales. While these stores are holding the release of their Black Friday flyers until Thanksgiving Day, the gossip is swirling within the stores as to what they will be offering. Bon-Ton will be opening at 5 a.m. Any cosmetics purchase of $75 or more comes with a free over-sized purse. Lancome Purchases entitle the purchaser to buy a Lancome or Estee Lauder Beauty Box packed with cosmetics for $48.50. Gift card purchases of $50 or more receive a free mini-box of chocolates.

JCPenney will be opening their doors at 4 a.m. on Friday. The store is offering an extra 10% off to all shoppers who purchase items between 4 a.m. and 1 p.m., and they first shoppers in the store receive free Disney snow globes with a purchase. All shoppers will receive $10 off their purchase. Clothing and shoes will be at discounts of up to 70%.

Kohl's is also opening at 4 a.m. and will be offering many items on sale. Fans of Guitar Hero will love the sale on wireless guitar controllers at $39. Portable DVD players will be selling for as low as $49.99. All toys will be 50% off. Men's suits will be 50% off, wool jackets for men and women are being slashed in sales of up to 60% off, and many jewelry items are going to be offered for huge discounts. Kohl's is giving a $10 discount certificate to all customers spending at least $50 on Friday.

Sears will be handing $10 gift cards to the first 200 shoppers. They will also be offering sales of up to 50% on all Christmas themed items, 50 to 60% off all clothing, 50% off all games, 30% off all toys, and 20% off all appliances. One of the biggest rumors swirling around the University Mall Sears is the 42-inch High-Def Plasma Television that will be selling for $776.99.

While I still feel that it is safer and easier to shop online or pick up gift cards while out grocery shopping (Hannaford, Price Chopper, and Shaw's carry gift cards for dozens of stores), those looking for incredible bargains will find the best deals within Williston. Best Buy and Circuit City compete yearly and there is already evidence that each store plans to top its competition by heavily discounting hot item. Walmart is another excellent store to be hitting for toys and general gifts.