Black Friday: To some, it’s THE day to kick off the Christmas shopping season and snag unbelievable deals on high-end items, even if it means camping overnight or cutting a Thanksgiving meal short. To others, it’s a day to avoid shopping centers at all costs. The Sacramento Press asked locals to share their Black Friday plans, strategies and experiences. Here is what they had to say: Ramona Powell, a 54-year-old transportation consultant from Sacramento, said she plans to do some shopping on Friday. “I’ve looked online at what Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target, JC Penney’s and Macy’s have,” she said. “My tradition has been to go out at about 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving and camp out.” She said h

Refrigerators, televisions, computer work stations and office supplies that started life as county property may end up in some people’s homes after the Sacramento County surplus property sale Thursday. When county programs and buildings are closed down or offices have staff layoffs, furniture and equipment that is no longer needed – surplus property – is sent to the Sacramento county General Services department for storage. General Services stores everything in a warehouse off Goethe Road in south Sacramento. When the warehouse starts to overflow, the county holds the equivalent of an over-sized yard sale, selling the surplus property to the public at deep discounts. In previous years,

It's spring time, and that means the most beautiful time of year to be outside enjoying everything Midtown has to offer, walking, biking, ...or scooting around the area! This spring you can enter to win your very own scooter to make your trip around town even more fun. How? Submit your entry for the scooter prize drawing during the Red Hot Sale, May 8-21. Details and complete list of participating retail locations at exploremidtown.org. Someone lucky will drive away on the last day of the event with their very own Midtown "Red Hot" scooter (and helmet), generously donated by Scooter City, located at 614 16th Street, Sacramento. The scooter will be on display all over Midtown May 8-21, so

 Music lovers and bargain hunters came together Friday for great deals as Capital Public Radio hosted its annual used records and CD sale preview party. About 4,000 people showed up at the Howe Bout Arden Shopping Center for the swap this weekend, for which all proceeds went towards CPR’s two local radio stations 90.0 and 88.9. Some visitors were searching for older types of recordings, wanting to keep a tangible form of music in their collection. “I’m looking for more things that are unique,” Bjarne Winkler, 56, said. He added that the old 78s are interesting and many "kids of today" wouldn't recognize one. "It’s sort of a piece of history I can hold on to.” People were riffling throu

Capital Public Radio’s Annual Used Record & CD Sale will be held Saturday and Sunday June 26 and 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year’s sale will once again take place at the Howe ‘Bout Arden shopping center, 2100 Arden Way, Suite 172 in Sacramento. The Annual Used Record & CD Sale offers music and movies for hugely discounted prices. Last year, approximately 1,000 people took advantage of the great deals on vinyl records, DVDs, audio books, videogames, and more. There are diverse formats of audio and other entertainment to choose from in a variety of genres. From LPs to CDs, video games, and VHS to Blue Ray DVDs, all types of media have been collected over the past months All musical gen

Sacramento defintiely has it's own unique fashion sense, and the local fashion scene lately has really been coming into it's own. More and more people are making due with less money, and second-hand and re-purposed clothing have become a popular option on adding flavor to one's wardrobe without too much strain on the pocketbook. Thrift shopping seems to have become a local custom, and local business are sprouting up everywhere catering to those who prefer funky, one-of-a-kind "pre-loved," second-hand clothing to the bland, blend-in-the-crowd, mass produced options found at the nearest mall. Artists and designers have been getting in on the action too, re-making new fashions out of old vint

Mark your calendar and don't miss the California Automobile Museum's Annual Spring Swap Meet on Sunday, March 7, 2010 from 6am - 2pm.Vendors will offer unique and hard to find automobile collectibles and accessories, including antique auto parts, tools, books, magazines, models and much more! The Meet is located next to the Museum at 2400 Front Street - parking in Museum parking lot, on the street, and behind the Museum. New this year, vendors can pre-register by visiting www.CalAutoMuseum.org/SwapMeet. There will also be set-up and merchant and car sales registration on Saturday, March 6 from 2pm - 5pm and registration and set up will open at 5am on March 7. General admission and parking

Most of us will never have to face the pain, confusion, and uncertainty that the parents of critically injured children face each day. On June 17th, a 2 year old Roseville girl was crossing the street in her grandfather's arms. Just when they were about to reach the other side, a car struck the grandfather. The little girl was thrown in the air, and landed several feet away on her head. Her grandfather suffered several broken ribs, a broken pelvis, and gashed his head from falling into the windshield. Luckily, a soldier and his friend were walking by, and together they were able to resuscitate the little girl and keep her grandfather stable until help arrived. The 2 year old girl is still

Take a million-dollar inventory of LPs, CDs and DVDs, arrange them on several 80-foot-long tables and place them into a 10,000 square foot room for three days. This is the recipe for Capital Public Radio's (CPR) annual Used Record and CD Sale. It will commence on Friday night with a "Preview Party" from 6 - 9 p.m. For a $20 cover charge, people can get a jump start on the musical feast while enjoying live music, food and wine. On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., the public can dig in for free and search through the leftovers. It all takes place in suite 172 of the "Howe 'bout Arden" shopping center at 2100 Arden Way. All-in-all there will be approximately 45,000 vinyl records

Week 13: March 31-April 5 So after a few weeks of experimenting with this Storyline, I’ve decided to tweak things around a bit. Quandary: My initial concept of highlighting an event a day was in response to those flighty and exasperated comments like: “There’s nothing interesting going on in Sacramento” or even more so the: “There’s nothing to do on Mondays (or any other day of the week that doesn’t seem to offer anything new)”. 7 Days, 7 things to do was my attempt to address this boring complaint of the non-creative, unimaginative types. Not to say that I haven’t been there myself! Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t until I started to get out a little bit that I really became aware of the

I have come to realize that the amount of time I spend on my bike is directly proportional to the amount of money that comes out of my wallet. Or it might be a more advanced function involving the quadratic equation or a differential analysis. Needless to say, you do not need to be a math major to understand the value of a good midtown sale. Right now boutiques are trying to unload massive quantities of fall and winter goods to make way for spring items. Factor in the after-Christmas mark downs and economic turmoil (did anyone ever confirm that rumor about Prada at TJ Maxx?!) and you've got the perfect conditions for bargain hunting. Let's face it. It's going to be chilly for a couple mo