"It's just an old time, warm feeling ... A lot of places have coffee or tea. A lot of people come out in pajamas ... It's like a throwback to how it used to be," when the retail holiday shopping season began around this time and not "a month ago," Allen "Big Al" Cohen said Monday about Wiscasset's annual Early Riser, a day of sales around town. The event returns this Saturday, Nov. 8.

It's the only time all year Big Al's Fireworks Outlet, at 300 Bath Road (Route One), gives discounts, Cohen, its owner, noted. "We give 25% off from 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock at night. So it's the best day to come shopping."

"It's always lots of fun," Ames True Value Supply co-owner Wayne Averill said of the Early Riser. Expect some "crazy deals" at the 447 Bath Road business, such as on bungee cords and a couple of grills, he said. "You never know what."

Other participants include In the Clover, 85 Main St.; Moulinette, 60 Main St.; rock paper scissors, 68 Main St.; Treats, 80 Main St.; fiction: A Novel Bookshop, 49 Water St.; The Bird Gallery, 51 Water St.; Village Handcraft, 52 Water St.; Grounded Coffee, 147 Gardiner Road; St. Philip's Bargain Basement, 12 Hodge St.; Sweetz & More, 300 Bath Road; and Plain Goods, 54 Water St. Encouraging this year’s Early Riser shoppers are J. Edward Knight & Co., https://www.jedwardknight.com/insurance-maine/; and Marsha DeCosta marsha@dunhamrealty.com