With just a few weeks until the turkey hits the table, more ads are leaking out for Black Friday, including rumored deals from Old Navy and Lowes. In addition to Black Friday-only deals, Old Navy is celebrating with "Gobble Palooza" with deals starting on Thanksgiving Day at noon and continuing on Friday, when they open at 3:00 a.m.!

Last year marked the start of a Hallmark holiday of sorts that quickly gained popularity with last-minute holiday shoppers; Free Shipping Day. On Free Shipping Day last year, more than 100,000 shoppers picked up Christmas gifts with free, guaranteed-in-time-for-Christmas shipping at more than 250 retailers including big names like Kohl's, JCPenney, Victoria's Secret and many more.

Thanks to its first year success, Free Shipping Day is back for a second year and as founder Luke Knowles told WalletPop in a phone interview, "Free Shipping Day wants to join the ranks of Black Friday and Cyber Monday as an annual tradition."

Another day, another Black Friday ad leaked and viewable online for your Black Friday planning pleasure.

This time Kmart's 40 page Black Friday ad has leaked, revealing exactly which toys, electronics and other goods will be getting special Black Friday pricing.

Invoking their famous Blue Light Specials, Kmart is celebrating the day of shopping with "Blue Friday" deals from 6-11 a.m.

Retail theft is on the rise, but not from hard pressed consumers looking to make ends meet. Rather, organized groups or gangs are hitting stores, stealing large quantities and reselling the goods, often online.

Anyone looking for a deal should be wary, a lot of those too good to be true prices, really are. Popular product categories like electronics are popular "hot" items, but health and beauty products and pharmaceutical items are increasingly being stolen and resold.

The National Retail Federation issued a helpful alert this week along with a detailed list of products, including many popular brand names.

Today at WalletPop we have a special treat. We packed our backpack, grabbed an oxygen tank and took off to the top of Deal Mountain in search of Coupon Sherpa, a master of deals who answers questions about deals at the Ask Coupon Sherpa Blog, to find out how he does it and share with you his 6 tips to gear up for Black Friday and holiday shopping.

WalletPop: So, Coupon Sherpa, we know you're all about reliable coupons. What can you tell me about getting ready for Black Friday and holiday shopping?

Coupon Sherpa: Thanks for making the trek up to my summit on Deal Mountain. My first tip for shoppers is to save wear and tear on your feet and wallet by checking your junk mail for Black Friday sales, many of which include useful coupons. If you don't have a subscription, Thanksgiving is an excellent day to pick up your regional papers as Black Friday advertising consistently makes this the fattest newspaper of the year.

Think your ever-prepared colleague who's already bought and wrapped all her gifts has an impressive jump on the holidays? Consider this: electronics mega-chain Best Buy started prepping for Black Friday, the official, chaotic start to the holiday shopping season, in August.

That's when the company sends out a Black Friday "Toolkit" to each of its stores, summarizing the company's ticketing and security procedures, according to company spokesperson Scott Morris. The Toolkit is followed by several autumn "rehearsals," which simulate the day's events, he said.

And now, with the big day just weeks away, the company is tanned, rested and ready, and looking forward to what it hopes is a bright spot in a dark retail year

Black Friday seems to be coming early this year. Just in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season, Wal-Mart announced today that its lowering prices on more than 100 toys.

This week, Wal-Mart stores will roll back prices by as much as 20% to 30% on many kid favorites, including Star Wars light sabers and Bakugan starter packs. The price cuts are expected to last through Christmas and are also available online at Walmart.com.

This latest round of rollbacks is in addition to the retailer's previous promotion, advertising 100 toys for $10 and its direct shot at Amazon.com when it started offering 10 hot new books for $10.

It's still October and already schedules are filling up with things to do to prepare for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, Hanukkah and more.

On top of the normal things that need done -- changing your oil, sending out cards, finding time to work out -- you still need to shop for gifts, which is no small matter.

A recent analysis of shopping habits, sponsored by search engine Bing, found that in the process of searching for the right gift and looking for the best deal, the average American will lose $114 this year.

What do you want for the holidays? Get your own free copy of Sears Wish Book by filling out this online form. Get a head start on your Holiday shopping list today!

But you'll have to be patient. Allow two to three weeks for delivery to you doorstep.

Sears is greeting our collective obsession with deals with open arms. Rather than waiting until after Thanksgiving, Sears is offering doorbusters each week until Christmas. Starting this Friday, October 30.

According to the company, the sale starts this week on Friday at 5 p.m. and extends through Saturday at noon because of Halloween. Beginning the following week, "Black Friday Now" continues on Saturday mornings through Christmas. New doorbuster values start each Saturday at 7 a.m. and are valid through noon.

Here's a sample of what to expect this week:

• 50 percent off (save $200) Craftsman® 302-piece mechanic's tool sets
• $79.99 (reg. $259.99) 3/8 ct. tw. diamond stud earrings
• $174.19 (reg. $259.99) 7 1/2 ft. Wakefield Christmas tree with 700 Never Out(TM) clear or multi lights
• 50 percent off all DieHard workboots (reg. $75.00) and $19.99 (reg. $39.99) on all Covington low-shaft boots
• $399.99 closeout (reg. $699.99) ProForma XP elliptical 16-in stride length

A sneak peak at the following week's deals reveals a 42" Zenith Plasma TV for only $499 (reg. $649.99). Can't make it to the store? Sears is offering pre-ordering starting October 29 at Sears.com.

Sears actual Black Friday sales list is also up perusal on Black Friday Info.

Watch out kids -- and adults who love toys: the Toys R Us Big Toy Book, which is billed as the "Biggest Big Book Ever!" is on its way to your front door and, for the first time, you'll be able to browse it on the iPhone and Facebook.

In addition to its new online presence the Big Toy Book is packed with more than $5,500 in savings on toys of all varieties, and features a two-page spread complete with FAO Schwarz deals that will be available in Toys R Us stores.

Toys R Us provided WalletPop with a sneak peak at the 2009 Toys R Us Big Toy Book, where we found the following deals for the kid inside of everyone.

Admit it.: ever since you read our Black Friday 2009 predictions you've been waiting to see the first ad! Well, the wait is over. BlackFriday.info has secured the first Black Friday ad for 2009 which comes from OfficeMax. BlackFriday.info is still labeling the ad as a rumor but feels that is is at least, "partially correct."

The entire OfficeMax Black Friday 2009 ad is available to look at BlackFriday.info, complete with a scan of the entire ad.

Here are some of best deals which match up with our Black Friday predictions.

• Acer Aspire One Netbook - $149.99
• Magellan GPS - $69.99
• Memorex 7" portable DVD player - $29.99
• Microsoft Office 2007 - $49.99
• SunGale 7" Digital Picture Frame - $29.99

These are just some of the doorbuster deals to be had when OfficeMax opens at 7 AM on Black Friday. They also have discounts on digital cameras, memory cards, office chairs and many other accessories.

Now that the first ad for Black Friday 2009 has leaked out expect to see others follow in its footsteps. Even with new security measures in place to prevent leaks like these BlackFriday.info expects to have 2 more ads by the end of the month and daily updates in November.

If you plan to stand outside for doorbuster deals make sure your read about how to stay safe on Black Friday and as always, check out WalletPop's Black Friday 2009 coverage for additional deals and details.

Thanksgiving has become known to shoppers as one of the best days to buy stuff online, but like most conventional wisdom about shopping it's actually not the best day to buy online.

According to research done by Yahoo, online retailers saw a 147% increase in purchases on Black Friday compared to other days in November, more than double the increase on Cyber Monday.

This may be news to most shoppers since Cyber Monday is hyped as the best day to buy stuff online but according to Dan de Grandpre, CEO of Dealnews.com, "It's been that way for years. Every year as far back as I recall, traffic to dealnews.com was higher on Black Friday than Cyber Monday." explaining that, "After all, that makes sense, since Cyber Monday is a recently invented "Hallmark holiday": an event made-up by retailers and industry groups to drive online sales."

According to de Grandpre, there's a simple reason why shoppers buy more on Black Friday; "the deals are better." The term Cyber Monday was coined to explain the rise in sales of online items as shoppers returned to offices to get the items they missed on Black Friday but with more retailers starting sales early Cyber Monday is no longer a day to get the items you missed.

For the past several years major retailers have embraced our desire to shop earlier by offering the same doorbuster deals that draw crowds to the store, online. De Grandpre estimates that "we'll see 80-90% of the tech doorbusters available online this year, with a lower percentage of apparel and other soft goods." For shoppers this means you can enjoy all of the savings without having to worry about Black Friday safety and security.

The day after Thanksgiving is both the best shopping day of the year or the worst. Combine a store offering its lowest prices all year with a crowd of anxious, cash-strapped consumers who've been standing in line for many pre-dawn hours, and you're asking for trouble.

Last year, we saw how quickly things can get out of hand, when a Walmart customer was trampled to death in Valley Stream, New York, during a Black Friday sale. There isn't any hard data on the number of injuries on Black Friday, but sadly, that wasn't an isolated incident, even for Walmart: Shoppers at the retailer have been hurt in stampedes near Grand Rapids, Michigan; another in Columbus, Ohio, reportedly took an elbow to the face. Black Friday rarely seems to pass without some scuffle or incident.

Toys R Us stores will be sprouting up all over this fall, kind of like tulips in spring. The toy retailer is opening 350 "pop up" or temporary stores for the holidays beginning this October.

Seems one store's failure is Toys R Us' gain. With so many retailers closing, there's some prime real estate available and landlords are amenable to negotiating short term leases. Toys R Us isn't giving away any details, but a spokeswoman tells Walletpop, "We are pleased with the economic terms for these locations. That being said, we focused on securing locations in the best malls nationwide."

Close to 80 stand-alone locations will open in malls around the country including Woodbury Commons, NY and the Deer Park Town Center in Ill. These "Holiday Express" shops will have a tailored assortment of the toys and games normally found at regular Toys R Us stores, and will average 4,000 sq. ft., about the size of a RadioShack.

Even smaller Toys R Us stores will open as Holiday Express departments within 260 Babies R Us stores. Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch says the goal is to be more conveniently located during the holidays. Now that KB Toys is no longer, there's an opportunity for a mall-based toy store to capture incremental sales. Since most Toys R Us locations are big boxes in strip malls, the chain stand to get both driving and foot traffic.

Toys R Us gave up its title of largest toy retailer to Walmart years ago and specialty stores have had a difficult time competing with discount and club stores. In 2005, Toys R Us was struggling and a private equity firm took over, hired Storch and has since benefited from reduced overhead and cost cutting.

Toy sales are shrinking at all retailers, but not as much as other product categories such as apparel. According to market research firm The NPD Group, toys sales this year so far are down around 2%, With less to go around, Toys "R" Us has to do something to grab a bigger share of the toy-buying public.

But will more doors ring up more sales? That remains to be seen.

For more Black Friday coverage, check out our Black Friday Deals and other Black Friday 2009 news today.