Black Friday Guide - Howard County

Black Friday can be a tortorous event. On the one hand there are (occasionally dangerous) crowds at major retailers and outlets, but at the same time there are some great sales.

This year, many large retailers such as Target and Walmart are opening on Thanksgiving evening, giving early bird shoppers the opportunity to shop until they drop—quite literally if they've had enough turkey.

In addition, many local small businesses will be offering sales on their products.

Below, we've compiled a list of local major retailers and small businesses that are offering Black Friday sales around Howard County on Nov. 23. For the big shops, you can click on the link in their name to view their full Black Friday flyers. Patch will continue to update this list as more sale information comes in.

(If you're a small business owner in the county that would like your shop's Black Friday sales listed, please email andrew.metcalf@patch.com)

Mall in Columbia - Throughout Black Friday the mall will be hosting special events, including a chorus from 1 - 2 p.m. near the poinsettia tree, santa will be on hand, and shoppers can win prizes like "I Survived Black Friday at The Mall in Columbia" t-shirts. Several stores will have special opening times (midnight on Friday) - the complete list is here.

Location - 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia

Columbia Association is offering 20 percent off all CA gift cards, which are good for lessons, programs, personal training, golf and more. 

Sweet Elizabeth Jane – Main Street Ellicott City boutique will open its doors at 9 a.m. on Black Friday and will be offering 20 percent off total purchases between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and other sales throughout the day.

Location - 8125 Main Street, Ellicott City (410)465-6400

Journey from Junk – Ellicott City’s furniture and women’s clothing store will be offering 20 percent off all black apparel, including handbags, clothing, gloves and scarves. Also they’ll be selling Fun Girl magnets, cards and napkins at a discount based on quantity, for example if you buy three magnets that are normally $4 each, you can get three for $10.

Location - 8247 Main Street, Ellicott City (410)465-8330

Greenberries – Columbia’s maternity and newborn consignment shop will be offering $5 off of a $40 purchase, $10 off 70, $15 off 100 and a special gift (either a photography session or a new product) with purchases of $150.

Location - 6925 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia (410)290-6523

Daedalus Books – The publisher’s 10,000-square-foot warehouse outlet in Columbia is offering a three-day 10 percent off sale beginning on Black Friday. The warehouse will have extended hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and will go back to normal 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours on Sunday.

Location - 9645 Gerwig Lane, Columbia (410)309-2730

Goodys Folkart - Elkridge store makes hand-carved santas, textiles and wood turnings among other items. The store will be offering 10 percent of all items, except consignment pieces, all Black Friday weekend starting Friday. 

Location - 5725 Main Street, Elkridge (410)796-1990

Out of Our Past Antiques will offer 40% off all pictures Black Friday through Sunday, plus other in-store special prices.

Location - 8111 Main Street, Ellicott City (410)480-2970

Walmart – Perhaps the king of Black Friday deals, Walmart superstores will open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Deals include big markdowns on flat screen TVs, Xboxes and fleece pullovers.

Editor’s Picks

• $6 Starter fleece pullovers
• $10 16GB SDHC card
• $688 Vizio 60-inch LED HDTV

 Area locations

• 6405 Dobbin Road, Columbia (410)740-2448
• 3200 North Ridge Rd, Ellicott City (410)418-5780

Target – Stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving day and will be offering a wide variety of deals on electronics, video games, board games and toys.

Editor's Picks

• Scrabble, Monopoly - $7
• Razor Scooters - $19
• Xbox 360 Kinect Bundle - $200

Area Locations

• 6111 Dobbin Rd, Columbia (410)290-1123
• 4390 Montgomery Rd, Ellicott City (410)203-1700

Sears – Sears is starting its Black Friday deals on Nov. 18 a full five days before actual Black Friday, but will have most of its biggest sales starting Nov. 21 and continuing through Thanksgiving to Nov. 23.

Editor’s Picks

• $97 32-inch HDTV
• Buy one get one free $12.99 Disney and Star Wars characters kids’ slippers
• $7.50 Craftsman aluminum LED flashlight (for the next outage)

Area Location - Mall in Columbia – 10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia (410)997-6555

Best Buy – The national electronics retailer may be struggling, but it will still be rolling out the deals for Black Friday, opening its stores at midnight on Nov. 23 as well as offering more deals online for cyber Monday on Nov. 26.

Editor’s Picks

• $2 DVDs, including “Up in the Air”, “The Social Network” and “Paranormal Activity”
• $180 Samsung Galaxy Tab 8GB

Area Locations

• Mall in Columbia, Columbia (mobile store) (410)740-2320
• 8251 Gateway Overlook, Elkridge (410)872-9448

Lowe’s – The home improvement superstore is offering deals on artificial Christmas trees, cordless drills and compressors starting on Thanksgiving Day and continuing until Nov. 26 at midnight.

Editor’s Picks:

• $50 Blue Hawk air compressor
• $90 Skil 10-inch table saw
• $100 DeWalt 18-volt cordless drill

Area Location - 8281 Gateway Overlook Dr., Elkridge (443)896-0970

Toys R Us – Stores open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and the first 200 shoppers at each store will receive a goody bag with $30 worth of stocking stuffers.

Editor’s Picks

• $269 Barbie Escalade electric ride-on car
• 40 percent of Mega Block Halo sets
• $20 Fisher Price Rock Star Mickey

Area Location - 6100 Dobbin Road, Columbia (410)290-4490