Black Friday and Small Business Saturday in Downtown

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is encouraging people to put the Holidays back in their Holiday Shopping this season. Leave the malls behind and experience a more festive shopping atmosphere in Downtown Pittsburgh, where there is a unique mix of shopping and holiday traditions. In the last two years more than 15 new retailers have chosen Downtown Pittsburgh as their home, helping to expand the retail offerings to more than 150 diverse retailers in the Downtown shopping scene.

“We invite everyone to leave behind the hustle and stress of malls and big box stores for a more genuine holiday experience,” said Jeremy Waldrup, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. “The retail landscape in Downtown is transforming and I am confident that every shopper who visits Downtown will find unique items that will help to cross off more than a few people on their holiday list.”

Black Friday – Friday, November 24

The Peoples Gas Holiday Market™ will be open and filled with free, live entertainment all day. Downtown will be bustling with holiday sights, live music, and free family activities around every corner, including Holiday Kidsplay. Visitors are encouraged to avoid the wild rush of malls and enjoy free parking. Then hop on the free Fifth Avenue Place Holly Trolley for a convenient lift to holiday hot spots or enjoy free horse-drawn carriage rides at PPG Place.

Small Business Saturday – Saturday, November 25

Now in its seventh year, Small Business Saturday has been embraced as part of the holiday shopping tradition. Each year shoppers, businesses, and public officials come together to Shop Small^® and show their neighborhood pride. Downtown is excited to be part of this tradition. As a Neighborhood Champion, the PDP is giving shoppers a little extra incentive to visit all of their favorite places and a great opportunity to win prizes! Here’s how it works:

• Collect a Small Business Saturday shopping passport at the PDP Info booth in Market Square, at the Peoples Gas Holiday Market™ on Small Business Saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m. or at any participating store.
• Get the passport stamped for each participating store visited on Small Business Saturday.
• Once shopping is complete for the day, return the stamped passport to the PDP info booth in Market Square (with at least two stamps!) by 5:00 p.m. for a chance to win fabulous raffle prizes from Downtown retailer’s worth up to a $500 dollar value!

Participating retailers and their specials are listed here.

Peoples Gas Holiday Market

The Peoples Gas Holiday Market™ is a European-inspired Christmas market that transforms Market Square into a holiday village featuring 35 vendors of international and locally handcrafted gifts housed in Alpine-style chalets, an entertainment stage featuring local performing groups and bands, and a whimsical Santa’s House offering free photos with Santa when you make a donation to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Foodbank. The Market is open Daily (closed on Thanksgiving) at 11:00 a.m. through Saturday, December 23.

Although true to its European inspiration, the market has continued its expansion to a more international focus to include Asian, African, Haitian, and Latin American goods to complement its mix of popular returning vendors including Käthe Wohlfahrt, renowned purveyor of German holiday items. This year, the Market welcomes several new vendors including Monmade, Pittsburgh’s craft business accelerator who bring several of Pittsburgh’s most sought after artisans to the Market. Additional new vendors include 837 North who produce natural candles, Pittsburgh Pottery who feature Pittsburgh themed mugs, bowls and more, Yo Sox, bringing their funky, ultra-comfortable socks to the market, and Le Petit Chocolat who will feature handcrafted chocolates. Certain to delight many visitors, one vendor who has returned after a hiatus is Helmut’s Strudl bringing with them Austrian strudels, bratwurst, pretzels and more.

Santa’s House  – Santa again resides in his storybook home, featuring a real gas fireplace, in Market Square where children of all ages have the opportunity to have a free photo taken with Santa with every donation to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In five years, more than $175,000 has been raised during the Holiday Market, providing tens of thousands of meals for local families in need.

Daily Entertainment – The Peoples Gas Holiday Market™ also features daily entertainment on the main stage including ethnic performance groups, school and community choirs, bands, local musicians and more.

New Karaoke Contest  – New for 2017, the Holiday Karaoke Contest! Every Monday and Tuesday evening from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. through December 12, contestants will compete to move on to the grand finale on Monday, December 18, where one lucky winner will go home with a cash prize of $1,000.

 Condor Airlines Giveaway – Guests who stop by the Kathe Wolfhart tent during the Holiday Market have the opportunity to enter to win two free tickets to Germany on Condor Airlines, no purchase necessary.

Holiday Pop Ups

Five unique pop up experiences have opened in the Golden Triangle this Holiday Season. The 2017 Holiday Season pop ups further the PDP’s commitment to enhance the Downtown retail landscape.

The 2017 Downtown Pittsburgh Holiday Season pop ups include:

Miracle on Market, 20 Market Square in The Original Oyster House. This popular holiday pop up bar returns featuring tasty themed cocktails with familiar names, festive decorations, staff decked out in their finest ugly sweaters, and guaranteed yuletide fun. A portion of proceeds from the pop up cocktail bar will be donated to 412 Food Rescue. Miracle on Market opens on Black Friday (11/24) and runs through New Year’s Eve (12/31).

Hours of Operation: 4 p.m. to midnight seven days per week

Technogel® Sleeping Pop Up Shop, 600 Wood Street, the corner of Wood and Sixth Streets. Technogel®, a European-based gel manufacturer with its North American Headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh, will open a holiday store featuring its cutting-edge gel molded pillows and mattresses that you can’t get anywhere else. Based on expertise from more than 23 years of making life more comfortable with its proprietary gel, Technogel® has revolutionized mattresses and pillows with cool, comfortable support that’s been clinically shown to help you spend more time in deep, restful sleep. The pop up shop will run through December. Stop by any weekday afternoon to pick up a sleep-treat! Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Friday noon to 7:00 p.m.; Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. 

Pop Up Nickelodeon, 811 Liberty Avenue. Theater Historical Society will be opening their own Nickelodeon on Liberty Avenue, to bring this crucial piece of cinematic history to life. The exhibit will cover Pittsburgh’s essential role in cinematic history including the first Nickelodeon, which was on Smithfield Street. The Pop Up Nickelodeon will screen classic films from the Nickelodeon era, including Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” and Georges Melies’ “A Trip to the Moon,” as well as short films introducing the Theatre Historical Society of America and their mission. In addition to the PDP, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Port Authority of Allegheny County is also sponsoring the pop up Nickelodeon. The pop up will be open through through Highmark First Night (12/31). Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Friday noon to 6:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday noon to 5:00 p.m.; Black Friday noon to 9:00 p.m.

Vignette, 807 Liberty Avenue. Moop is bringing together some of the region’s best retailers to Downtown at the cozy storefront on Liberty Avenue. Vignette will feature curated collections of men’s and women’s clothing, canvas bags, and vintage home goods, and gifts of all kind from from Vestis, Pavement, Moop, and TollGate Revival and will  be open through December 23. Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 7:00 p.m.

Additionally, be sure to stop by Heinz Healey (160 Fifth Avenue) for the in-store pop up for new women’s clothier, Peter Lawrence, through December. Peter Lawrence, a new sister store of Heinz Healy, will offer everything for the professional Pittsburgh woman from active wear, to business attire, and formal wear. This new high-quality women’s boutique will curate brands including Frank Lyman, JoFit, Judy P, Mariana Jewelry, Metric, Sno Skins, and more. Hours of Operation: Monday through Wednesday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 Free Parking on Black Friday and Holiday Saturdays

The Pittsburgh Parking Authority is once again providing free parking in their garages on Saturdays (beginning November 25) and a bonus day on Black Friday. Visitors are encouraged to use the ParkPGH app to help them find the closest garage to their destination.

Holiday Website

To provide convenient and updated details on the dynamic range of holiday attractions, the PDP has the “Holidays in Downtown Pittsburgh” site www.DowntownPittsburgh.com/Holidays.

This site features Holiday Market details including a schedule of live entertainment, information on Downtown shopping, dining and parking, as well as family friendly activities including those at Fifth Avenue Place, Larrimor’s, PPG Place, and the Kidsplay activity zone that offers free family-friendly entertainment on weekends and Black Friday. On Saturdays and Black Friday visitors can take the free horse drawn carriage rides at PPG Place sponsored by Highwoods Properties.

The PDP also produces a weekly Holiday Season e-newsletter that will keep everyone updated with the most current information on events, activities, cultural offerings and retailers in Downtown Pittsburgh. Sign-up to receive this e-newsletter by visiting http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/subscribe.