She may be only 14 years old, but Daysha Torres has her "Black Friday" shopping strategy down.
When the Thanksgiving dinner dishes are washed and stored away, and the most committed shoppers set out around midnight for the first store openings, Torres and her rainbow-colored blue, purple and pink hair will be hitting the beauty supply stores.
"I usually go to (there) so I can get cheap dye," said Torres, a freshman at Santa Rosa High School. "And I usually go to Target and get tons of makeup."
She also plans to fit in a trip to Best Buy before heading to the Santa Rosa Plaza mall when most of its stores open at 5 a.m. Friday morning.
Torres won't be alone. Shoppers around the county are making plans for the traditional kick-off to the holiday shopping season. They'll be ready to spend a little cash in exchange for bargains, despite persistent unemployment and lukewarm economic forecasts.
Retailers have started their sales early this year, with some opening at 10 p.m. Thursday and others offering Friday's discounts online throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.
Press Democrat reader Sherrie Miller of Windsor downloaded an iPhone application to help her manage her gift list and her shopping plan. The mother of six recruited her sisters-in-law to help pin down the items that may be limited in stock, and she's still working on recruiting her husband.
They'll spread out and hit different stores early Friday morning, then meet up later to have breakfast together.
"When you are raising a big family, you need all the help you can get," Miller said.
Santa Rosa resident Amber Dengler, 21, suggests ditching the shopping carts, because they can get in the way.
"You will be with the other 25 in a cart traffic jam," Dengler said in an e-mail.
Still others are planning miniature road trips. Anne Marie Przyblyski, 41, of Sebastopol is picking up two girlfriends and driving her van to San Francisco at 7 a.m. to get an early start at Macy's, Nordstrom and H&M. She said she has been getting Facebook alerts and a flurry of e-mails about special sales.
"Hopefully there will still be parking spots left," Przyblyski said. "We'll be elbowing each other along with the rest of the shoppers."
Ryan Kelly, a 30-year-old who owns a recording studio, said he hopes to get some good deals Friday at Santa Rosa Plaza, but he'll leave the strategizing to everyone else.
"I'll pretty much come in with some money and see what I can get on sale," Kelly said. "I usually just freestyle it."
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