Retail outlets across Brookhaven will be getting down tobusiness Saturday during the annual Christmas Open House.

An official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, ChristmasOpen House will feature 36 businesses that will swing open theirdoors at 9 a.m. and host sales, make deals and run specialsthroughout the day until 5 p.m. The businesses participating, allmembers of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, areclustered in downtown, scattered along Brookway Boulevard andrunning the length of Highway 51.

“Our local retail members are rolling out the red buyingcarpet,” said chamber executive vice president Cliff Brumfield.”Many of the area’s better-known retailers are going all-out intheir decorating, as well as the tremendous discounts theyoffer.”

A detailed city map showing the locations of the participatingbusinesses can be found online at www.brookhavenchamber.com.

Brumfield said Christmas Open House historically is one of thecity’s biggest shopping days of the year, bringing in hundreds ofdeal-seekers from as far away as Hattiesburg and Baton Rouge,La.

“It not only increases the sales opportunities for our localretailers, but increases the local tax base,” he said. “In turn,this markets our community to people that otherwise may not haveshopped here.”