Holiday Shopping Season Starts With Black Friday

The holiday shopping season is underway across the country and northeast Georgia is no different.

Today, of course, is Black Friday.

That means lots of people headed to stores and malls not only today, but throughout the weekend.

Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Director Harris Blackwood said that the roads will be busy with shoppers, some of whom will be on the road very early.

“Make sure you are wide awake,” said Blackwood. “Be on the lookout. Folks are going to be fixated on shopping, getting that bargain, and they may not be as attentive as they need to be to what they are doing on the road.”

The Better Business Bureau is offering some tips for holiday shoppers headed out today or this weekend.

According to the BBB, shoppers should keep a number of things in mind.

Those include, checking out the company and only shopping at companies you can trust, check prices on items at more than one store to make sure you are getting the best deal, understand all return and refund policies, know rules regarding store gift cards, and stick to budget, whatever that might be.

Meanwhile, while today is Black Friday, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday.

Officials with Main Street Toccoa are urging people to shop local not only on Saturday, but throughout the holiday season.

Small Business Saturday started in 2010 and stresses and promotes shopping at local, small, hometown businesses.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has suspended all construction-related lane closures through 10 p.m. Sunday for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

So far this holiday weekend, there have been three traffic fatalities in the state of Georgia, according to figures released by the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

All of those fatalities have occurred in south Georgia, with the GSP reporting two traffic fatalities in Statesboro and one in Thomasville.