Patch Poll: How Much Is Your 2012 Holiday Budget?

Have you trimmed your spending because of the economy or has good fortune enabled you to spend more?

Many of you might already be done with your holiday shopping. Still others might be waiting for even better deals that sometimes pop up prior to Christmas. But how does your spending compare to prior holiday seasons? Those who have lost jobs due to the economy, who feel their jobs might be threatened or who have suffered other setbacks might be a little tighter with the purse strings than someone who just got that promotion. With Black Friday and Small Business Saturday over, and Cyber Monday waiting for a business surge tomorrow, you should have a pretty good handle on your 2012 holiday budget. So how much do you plan to spend this holiday season? Let us know by voting in our poll. And tell us in the comments section why you are spending …

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NE12Ukid

12:18 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012

Well, James, I'm big on doing those things around the holidays that bring you joy, satisfaction, or bring such to others. Which is why I support your choices as they bring joy to you and yours. If you love baking and giving cookies to everyone around you, that can be a great way for you to celebrate the holiday. If going to church services does it for you, then that's what you should do. If …   more ›

Black Friday 2012: Ready, Set, Shop!

Stuck in a traffic jam? Standing in line? Or sailing right through a checkout? Share your photos and experiences from the busiest shopping day of the year

For bargain-hunters, this is the big day. Are you braving the crowds today at the Ross Park Mall, the Cranberry Mall or Cranberry Commons? Snag a great deal—or at least a parking spot in the same zip code—at the Mall at Robinson, Robinson Towne Centre or another area shopping hot spot? What deals brought you to the stores? What's your best, worst or most surprising experience so far? Oh, and how's the Black Friday traffic out there in Wexford and around the Sewickley Valley? Share your photos of the fun. Click the "Upload photos and videos" button to get started. Then share your bargains, experiences and tips in the comments.

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Black Friday Sales: What Pine-Richland Shoppers Need to Know

While some major retailers plan to open their doors as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, plenty of deals will still await shoppers Friday at Walmart, Target, Best Buy and elsewhere.

With each passing year, it seems Black Friday begins earlier and earlier—6 a.m., then 5 a.m., then 4 a.m. This year, Black Friday actually started on Thanksgiving night. Should you be one of those traditional folks who don't believe in Black Friday shopping until it's actually Black Friday, however, here's what you need to know about shopping opportunities in the northern suburbs. Plenty of Black Friday deals are out there around Pine-Richland and throughout the North Hills and Cranberry. Among them is Nordstrom, which proudly trumpets its longstanding tradition of not putting up Christmas decorations or starting holiday sales until the day after Thanksgiving. A sign in its store windows reads: “We just like the idea of celebrating one …

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Early Black Friday Deals for Pine-Richland Residents

Target and Best Buy begin matching prices of online retailers Nov. 1.

So, you just can't wait to get your Christmas 2012 gift-shopping groove on? And you see great deals online, but you just don't trust the postal service - or your own ability to guess sizes? You don't have to wait until Black Friday to get some deals. Best Buy's announcement that it will allow in-store customers to price-match online retailers by showing the price on their smartphones has been matched by Target and Super Target, according to BFAds.net, a website devoted to Black Friday and gift-shopping alerts. Among other online retailers, the stores will match prices of Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com Best Buy's price-matching begins Nov. 4, while Target's begins today, Nov. 1. Like us on Facebook and like us on …

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Patch Poll

Patch Poll: Cyber Monday

For consumers, today is the internet equivalent of Black Friday. Our Patch Poll wants to know: Will you be shopping online today?

We have to wonder who comes up with these numbers, but the dollar-counting experts say that shoppers spent $52 billion in retail stores on Black Friday. (Can you imagine the chaos if that were all at the Dollar Store?) After all that, we wonder who has any money left over for more shopping. The same experts are predicting that Americans will spend another cool $1 billion today shopping online. We actually enjoy shopping for jammies while wearing our jammies, and it looks like we won't be alone. We are wondering whether you will be sitting down in front of your computer for some gift buying today. Vote in our Patch Poll, please. We'll bring you the results tomorrow.

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Patch Poll Results: Give Shopping a Holiday Break

We took a show of hands: Who thinks stores should be open for the holiday? The 'No' votes won in a landslide.

For many chain stores, Thanksgiving Day provided only a brief pause from the daily routine. By late afternoon Thursday, "big-box" retailers and some specialty chain stores were saying adios to the holiday and opening their doors. Did you see the mad rush on the news? Shoppers who had been waiting in line all day burst through the open doors like young parents pushing strollers through the opening gates at Disney World.  Sounds like they wanted to nab big-screen TVs, which were being sold 10-for-a-penny or something like that. Although the Black Friday rush in Western Pennsylvania appeared to be orderly for the most part, that was not the case everywhere. In other states, a woman used pepper spray on a competing shopper, and a police …

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Updated: Local Shoppers Hit Stores Early for Black Friday Bargains

The day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, is the busiest shopping day of the year and kicks off the holiday shopping season. As early as Thursday evening, shoppers from Cranberry to North Hills to Robinson, came out with one common goal—a good deal.

Mere hours after taking their last bites of Thanksgiving dinner, thousands of area bargain hunters awakened from their food comas and headed to malls and box stores in hopes of snagging at least a few Black Friday deals.  “I dragged them,” Lorraine Boyer joked, pointing to her two daughters, Marie Johnston and Michelle Giovango. “I’ve been dragging them for 12 years.” “It’s a tradition. It’s nice to go out with family,” daughter Marie Johnston added.  They weren't alone. By 8:30 p.m. Thursday evening, every parking space was taken in the Toys R’ Us and Walmart parking lots in Cranberry. Lines stretched around the block as eager shoppers waited for doors to open and the 2011 holiday shopping season to begin. Cranberry residents Boyer, …

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