Retailers get ready

Local stores brace for impact of after-Thanksgiving sales

November 23, 2006

By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer

Like a monster in a “Godzilla” movie, it’s coming and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. That’s right, it’s Black Friday.
Black Friday, so named because it is the day businesses’ profits go “in the black,” has become a Thanksgiving weekend tradition, one in which Americans flock to stores in hopes of getting a great amount of their Christmas shopping done.
It’s also a day that has become famous for its door-busting deals on certain items, whether it’s discounted televisions or premium toys at cut-rate prices. Many stores open before the crack of dawn, with lines of customers stretching outside the doors hours earlier.
Considering the expected rush, businesses around Greenwood are bracing for impact.
“We will have three times as many cashiers working as we normally do,” said Kmart manager Tom Franklin. “We’re geared up for the whole weekend.”
Franklin said Kmart will open at 6 a.m. Friday, and he is expecting large crowds to arrive almost immediately after the doors open.
“Our workers are definitely pumped up for the day,” said Franklin, who has worked for Kmart for 33 years. “When you’re in the retail business, days like that are what you live for.”
Excitement for the arrival of the crowds is a feeling shared by Belk assistant manager James Brown. “It will be an exciting day, definitely,” Brown said. “The thing about being in retail is that you either love it or you don’t. Fortunately, I do.”
Brown said Belk will open its doors at 5 a.m. Friday. He also said the store will be heavily staffed that day, a fact he hopes other retailers will follow.
“Every retailer will be staffed heavily, if they’re smart,” Brown said, with a laugh.
Brown said a big shopping weekend will be important to Greenwood Mall.
“I think everyone around here knows this mall needs weekends like this,” Brown said. “I know every store in here will be happy to see a big crowd.”
Major chain stores aren’t the only ones anticipating brisk business this weekend. Shops in Uptown Greenwood also will be looking to nab Christmas shoppers.
Lynn Mathis, owner of Uptown Bath and Kitchen, said this weekend serves as a kind of kickoff to the home-stretch run of holiday shopping at her store.
“Sales will escalate here until right up until Christmas,” Mathis said. “But with this tax-free weekend, I expect people will have extra incentive to come on down and see what we’ve got.”
The tax-free period Mathis referenced is a new wrinkle to the Thanksgiving weekend shopping bonanza, as consumers can avoid being charged sales tax. Mathis said she did not expect such a day to come about.
“I’m pleased, and also a little surprised,” Mathis said with a laugh. “People will already be out in force shopping. But it will be good for shoppers to save that 5 percent, especially on big-ticket items.”
Retail stores aren’t the only businesses that will be feeling the crush of customers on Friday. Restaurants will be buzzing with people looking to grab a bite to eat as they shoot from one destination to the next.
“We’re excited, and a little anxious,” said Amy Isble, a manager at sports bar and grill Beef O’Brady’s. “I’m sure we’ll be heavy at lunch Friday and Saturday.”
O’Brady’s will encounter a double dose of consumer madness this weekend. Besides Black Friday, the restaurant is expecting huge crowds for Saturday’s South Carolina-Clemson football game, scheduled for a noon kickoff.
“Yeah, it’s kind of a double crunch,” Isble said. “With the shopping and the ballgame, it’s just going to be a huge weekend.”

Thanksgiving feasts
might be pinching your wallet more

Holiday food prices on the rise

November 23, 2006

By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer

Cindy Weeks, of Greenwood, forgot to pick up cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving Day dinner, so she stopped Wednesday afternoon at the Food Lion on S.C. 72 for the canned treat, as well as paper towels and plates.
Like many people, she thinks the Thanksgiving holiday wouldn’t be the same without the right foods, no matter how much they might end up costing.
“You’ve got to have it, so I don’t pay attention to it (the price),” Weeks said. “Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without turkey.”
The traditional Turkey Day feast with turkey, stuffing, cranberries and all remains affordable, despite a slight price increase, the American Farm Bureau Federation reports.
Weeks plans to pool her dinner with her mother and sister and have the dinner at her mother’s house. She said her family will spend more than $100 together on the Thanksgiving feast this year.
The Thanksgiving Day dinner’s average cost this year is about $38.10 to feed 10 people, a $1.32 price increase from last year’s average of $36.78, according to the AFBF’s 21st annual informal survey of the prices of basic Thanksgiving Day items.
The survey’s shopping list includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and coffee and milk.
A 16-pound turkey costs $15.70, or roughly 98 cents per pound, reflecting an increase of 4 cents per pound, or a total of 59 cents per turkey compared to 2005, the survey shows.
The turkey is the biggest price contributor to Thanksgiving Day dinner this year.
Laura Chappell and her daughter Callie, of Greenwood, spent Wednesday afternoon at Food Lion picking up a few items they’d forgotten during their first Thanksgiving shopping run. Laura Chappell thinks the turkey is the most expensive Thanksgiving food item every year, but she said she hasn’t seen much of an increase in overall Thanksgiving food prices since last year.
Other Thanksgiving foods such as cranberries, sweet potatoes and stuffing have had slight price increases for 2006, while milk and coffee have decreased in price, the survey shows.
Chappell is hosting family from Charlotte and Atlanta at her house this year, spending about $80 in Thanksgiving food, drink and dessert.
Chappell likes to have every kind of food every year.
Lantis Wilson, of Greenwood, thinks Thanksgiving food prices have increased and decreased at about the same rate. She stopped by Food Lion to stock up for the meal, which will include turkey, ham, macaroni pie and broccoli casserole.
Dinner will cost about $80 and will be attended by Wilson’s children, grandchildren and her mother. No matter the price, she has to get Thanksgiving together.
“It only happens once a year,” Wilson said.

Jonas Blocker Sr.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Jonas Blocker Sr., 95, of 724 Brevard St., died Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006, at his home. The family is at the home.
Strong & Jones Funeral Home, Tallahassee, is in charge.
Announcement courtesy of Robinson & Son Mortuary Inc., Greenwood, SC.

Maurice Donte Brooks

ABBEVILLE — Mr. Maurice Donte Brooks departed this earthly life on Nov. 17, 2006. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio on Jan. 12, 1987 and was the son of Ms. Mary Brooks and Darrell Dean Hill. He was a graduate of Cleveland Christian Academy and was a certified Auto Body Technician.
Surviving are his mother, Ms. Mary Brooks of the home; his father, Darrell Dean Hill of Cleveland, Ohio; a brother, Bobby Kinchen, Jr. of Abbeville, SC; maternal grandparents, Mrs. Catherine Martin Brooks and William Edward Brooks, both of Abbeville, SC; paternal grandmother, Lillie Mae Hill of Cleveland, Ohio; a long time companion, Natosha Grand and a son Marshawn Brooks; three aunts, Florence Martin of Abbeville, SC, Linda Penson (Michael) and Elaine Martin (Michael), all of Cleveland, Ohio; also a number of other uncles, aunts, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins and other relatives and friends.
Service will be Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006 at 2 p.m. at St. Goodwill Baptist Church with Rev. J.F. Williams officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. The body will be placed in the church at 1 p.m.
The family is at the home of his grandmother Catherine Brooks on Secession Ave. Brown and Walker Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Anne N. Detwiler

Anne Northam Detwiler, 89, of 207 Creek Road West, widow of George Thomas Detwiler, died Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006.
Born in Chester, PA, she was the daughter of the late J. Albert and Anna Taylor Northam. She was a graduate of Chester High School in Chester, PA, and La Salles Business College in Philadelphia, PA. She worked as a secretary to the director of research at American Viscoe Corp. In addition, Anne worked as a volunteer at St. Nicholas Speech and Hearing School and the Women’s Auxiliary at Self Memorial Hospital. She was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, where she belonged to Saint Anne Chapter, served on the alter guild and volunteered as church secretary.
Mrs. Detwiler was preceded in death by her daughter, Nancy Irene Detwiler; her husband, George Thomas Detwiler and three brothers, Ned, William and Harvey Northam.
Surviving is a son, Dee Allen Detwiler and his wife, Kathy, of Greenwood; two grandsons, Cale Thomas and Gray Allen Detwiler; a sister-in-law, Hope Northam; two nieces, Patty Northam and Judy Oppasser; a nephew, Malcolm Northam and life long friends, Susan Stoddard, Lynne Kairalla, David and Ann Price, Dr. and Mrs. George Miller and Fanny Golden.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection with the Reverend Sidney Hall officiating. Burial will follow in Greenwood Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends in Bishop’s Hall at the church on Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. The family is at the home in Chinquapin.
Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, PO Box 658, Greenwood, SC 29648 or to the Church of the Resurrection, 700 South Main Street, Greenwood, SC 29646.
Harley Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com.

James K. Snoddy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lieutenant Colonel James K. Snoddy, USAFR, died on Nov. 21 in Charlotte, NC, at the age of 87. Snoddy was born in Cross Anchor, SC, in 1919. He is survived by his wife, Doris, of the home and children, Rip of IL, Kathryn of OR, Jon of CA, Phillip of TN and Jane of NC, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Snoddy began his Air Force career in 1942 at the age of 23. As a B24 bomber pilot, he flew 55 missions over Germany as part of the famous Squadron of Deception. He later served in Japan and Korea. After retiring in 1962 in San Antonio, TX, the family settled in Greenwood, SC, where he served as an administrator of Brewer Hospital, then Assistant to the City Manager of the City of Greenwood, retiring in 1983.
In 2000, the family moved to Charlotte, NC. He was an active member of Flint Hill Baptist Church and a member of the Fellowship Sunday School Class.
Services will be held Saturday, Nov. 25, at 11 a.m. at Flint Hill Baptist Church in Fort Mills, SC, and burial will be at the church cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the McEwen Funeral Home, 10500 Park Road, Pineville, NC 28210 (704) 544-1412.
Memorials may be made to Flint Hill Baptist Church refurbishment fund at 269 Flint Hill Road, Fort Mills, SC 29732.

CORRECTION

For the obituary of Robert “Bobby” Jenkins in Wednesday’s paper, the family will receive friends this evening, Thursday, at the home, 210-C Brooks Stuart Drive, Coleman Terrace.

Focus for Thanksgiving same as in the beginning

November 23, 2006

So today we give thanks for ..... what? There are so many things, where do we start?
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God. That was Dec. 4, 1619 at Berkely Plantation on the James River, near the present community of Charles City, Virginia. A charter for a group of 38 English settlers required them to observe a day of thanksgiving on the day they arrived. It also required the date of arrival be observed every year as a day of thanksgiving.
In today’s politically correct silliness, another thing about those early settlers likely would drive the PC crowd of today into a frenzy of protest. That’s because the first day of thanksgiving was totally religious and not about feasting. That came later.

THANKSGIVING DAY IS SET aside every year to allow us to give thanks to God for all our blessings during the year. Those blessings, to be sure, are many. There are many Americans less fortunate that most of us, we know that. However, most Americans, individually and as parts of various organizations continuously reach out to help others.
The first Thanksgiving Days in New England were harvest festivals. People thanked God for bountiful crops. More than likely that’s why Thanksgiving Day still comes after the crops are in.
There was no national Thanksgiving Day for years, but several states observed their own. Then President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November in 1863 as such a day. That lasted until President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Thanksgiving Day one week earlier. His motive was to help business by lengthening the shopping period before Christmas.

THROUGHOUT EVERYTHING, though, thanks to God has been the basis for the observance. Freedom to worship, in fact, tops the list of things for which to be thankful. We can add to that, of course, all the freedoms we enjoy, together and separately.
When we think of all the people in the world who have no idea what freedom is, we can thank God we live in a nation where we are free to worship or not worship. We are free to choose.
Think about one other thing we just witnessed. Imagine how blessed we are that we are able to change our government by the vote ..... and transfer power voluntarily and peacefully.
How many things do we take for granted? Count the blessings one by one. You may be blessed more than you think ..... and have a new appreciation of what Thanksgiving is all about.