“Black Friday shoppers map out their strategies to scoop up the best deals - Cleveland Plain Dealer” plus 1 more

Black Friday shoppers map out their strategies to scoop up the best deals - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Posted: 23 Nov 2010 03:56 PM PST

Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 12:00 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 6:00 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- While the rest of us are patting our bellies on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner, Black Friday shoppers will be huddling around the kitchen table with their laptops and newspaper ads, mapping out their strategies to scoop up the best deals.

"Old Navy opens at midnight, Kohl's opens at 3 o'clock, Target opens at 4, and from there we go to Walmart," said Kelly Hartman of Cuyahoga Heights, sounding more like a general on a battlefield than a bargain-hunting mom of three.

"We end up at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville because everything's right there."

Hartman and her mother, Dianne Suhy, have shopped on Black Friday for 18 years and are now teaching her 14-year-old daughter, Amanda, how to shop like a pro.

"We brought her last year as a beginner, and now she's hooked," said Hartman, whose list includes everything from silverware to Thomas the Tank Engine trains. "My two sons, 20 and 12, they stay home with dad."

Sue Sopa of Bay Village, who loves Black Friday so much that she even takes orders from co-workers at the Cleveland Clinic, said she and her sister-in-law, Lisa Herner, would go out shopping even if they didn't have anything specific to buy.

"It's all about the hunt and seeing if you can get the best deal. It's more fun to shop when it's dark out," she said. She said she never has trouble waking up because she's too excited to fall asleep on Thanksgiving.

Sopa was torn between starting out at Best Buy or Target this year but chose Target because "the Best Buy crowds get there on Thanksgiving and camp out," she said.

"You'll see the diehards in full snowsuits, cooking their dinner out there in the parking lot."

The National Retail Federation predicts that up to 138 million people will be out shopping this weekend, 4 million more than crowds that shopped last year the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving.

But with Friday's forecast calling for temperatures in the low 30s and a 60 percent chance of snow, the crowds in Northeast Ohio might be thinner than what retailers were hoping for.

Elisha Unger, portable-electronics supervisor for Best Buy stores in Greater Cleveland, said she expects shoppers to set up their tents outside area stores right after they finish their Thanksgiving dinners. Some families take turns waiting in shifts until the store opens.

Whether customers are sleeping out for the LG front-loading washer/dryer pair for $999.98 ($1,000 off, five pairs per store) or the 50-inch Panasonic Plasma HDTV for $699.99 ($300 off, 10 per store), "at 5 a.m. when the stores open, you'll see lines wrapping around the entire store," she said.

One or two hours before stores open, Best Buy employees will hand out tickets for doorbuster items to those in line, limit one ticket per category. Customers with tickets are guaranteed those items if they buy them by noon; everyone else is out of luck.

"This helps prevent people from rushing into the building," Unger said. "That's why it's advantageous to camp out. Last year, it rained pretty heavily, and we still had campers."

In nearly two decades of Black Friday shopping, Hartman said, "we've seen fistfights over TVs, when the cops had to be called, and people almost getting trampled because everybody rushed in the exit doors instead of the front doors."

That's exactly why shoppers like Michelle Wood of Bainbridge Township, public-relations director at Yopko Penhallurick, a Chagrin Falls marketing and public relations agency, never shop on Black Friday.

"The crowds are a definite turnoff, and I've found that I can find excellent sales from retailers without having to fight the massive crowds of Black Friday," she said via e-mail.

"This weekend, I scored a 50 percent off coupon ($25 for $50) for Nordstrom Rack from Groupon," she said. "Deals are out there, it's just a matter of finding them."

But Sopa, director of annual giving for the Cleveland Clinic, said shoppers in Northeast Ohio are more considerate than the stereotypical Black Friday shoppers in movies.

"People still go pretty ape over TVs and stuff, but most people are really nice, and they'll hold your place in line if you need to go grab something," she said.

She's already figured out where her local Target keeps the iPod Touches, Wii games and Casio keyboards, because she doesn't want to waste precious seconds looking around.

"You get your item first and stay with it, and then your partner goes and grabs the cart," she said. "You'll find abandoned carts all over the store."

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Michelin Guide Adds Two Double-Star Eateries in Italy; 32 Win First Stars - Bloomberg

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 04:13 AM PST

The cover of the Michelin Guide to Italy for 2011, published in 2010. Source: Michelin via Bloomberg.

Michelin today adds two double-star restaurants and 32 with one star in its guide to Italy.

The new two-star venues are Jasmin, in Chiusa, Trentino Alto Adige; and Bracali, in Massa Marittima Ghirlanda, Tuscany. The additions take Italy's total to six with three stars, 37 with two and 233 with one. By region, Lombardy leads with 52 starred venues, followed by Piedmont, with 37.

"The number of new entries attests to the recent trend in Italian gourmet dining, where the focus is increasingly on product quality, the chef's personality as revealed through his or her cuisine, preparation and flavors, and consistency over time -- without forgetting value for money," Michelin said today in an e-mailed release.

Three stars mean exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey; two stars are for excellent cooking, worth a detour; one star denotes a very good restaurant in its category.

Earlier today, Michelin named four new three-star restaurants in Tokyo, taking the total for Japan to 26, the same number as France, the home of the dining guide.

Michelin & Cie. is the world's second-biggest tiremaker after Bridgestone Corp. It produced its first guide in August 1900, distributed free of charge (until 1920) and originally intended for chauffeurs. The guide contained practical information, including street maps and tips on using and repairing tires. The guides have expanded internationally under Naret and now cover 23 countries.

Michelin's guide to France is scheduled for publication early in March. Before that, Hong Kong & Macau is slated for Dec. 2; the U.K. guide appears in January. The last volume to appear, in mid-March, is "Main Cities of Europe." That guide covers Copenhagen, where interest centers on whether chef Rene Redzepi's restaurant Noma will gain its third star.

Naret plans to step down at the end of this year.

 The new winners of one star include: ALBA Locanda del Pilone BENEVELLO Villa d'Amelia BORGOSESIA Osteria del Borgo CAPRI (Isola di) L'Olivo CAVENAGO DI BRIANZA Devero Ristorante CODIGORO La Capanna di Eraclio COGNE Le Petit Restaurant CORTE FRANCA Due Colombe COSTERMANO La Casa degli Spiriti EBOLI Il Papavero FORTE DEI MARMI Bistrot GOVONE Pier Bussetti al Castello di Govone GRINZANE CAVOUR Al Castello GUARDIAGRELE Villa Maiella LA SALLE La Cassolette MODENA Strada Facendo MONDOVI Il Baluardo MONTECCHIO PRECALCINO La Locanda di Piero NAPLES La Cantinella NERVI The Cook PALERMO Bye Bye Blues PELLIO INTELVI La Locanda del Notaio PERUGIA Il Postale POLESINE PARMENSE Antica Corte Pallavicina ROME All'Oro ROME Giuda Ballerino ROME Il Convivio-Troiani TORRIANA Il Povero Diavolo TRENTO Locanda Margon VIAREGGIO Enoteca Henri VITERBO Enoteca La Torre VODO CADORE Al Capriolo

(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net or Richardvines on http://twitter.com/home.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Beech at mbeech@bloomberg.net.

Maps Guides

Friday, November 26, 2010