The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

There was a story in a newspaper the other day about how much Thanksgiving dinners have changed with the advent of Black Friday and people shopping for “fantastic” bargains earlier and earlier as mainly big box stores try to entice buyers in before those buyers can go anywhere else.

This story was dated New York and started out, “Last Thanksgiving day Kimberly Mudge and four others left in the middle of their Thanksgiving meals to head for the mall.”

“They barely finished,” said the hostess. “They thanked me, put their plates on the counter and were gone.”

That is what happens when Thanksgiving becomes just another shopping day albeit a very large one at that.

This year is especially terrible for openings on Thanksgiving (if you believe that custom is terrible) for with Thanksgiving so late, one whole week of shopping has already been lost.

Black Friday has hit Big Sandy. People get in their cars right after the meal and head for Havre or Great Falls to buy that TV or electronic equipment cheaper than it will be at any other time during the year.

Meanwhile at Wal-Mart executives in some stores put boxes out in employee areas for “associates” to donate to help other needy employees.

It is sad when people are trained more and more to shop earlier and earlier to be able to buy what they need for Christmas at a price they can afford.

And it is a matter of training customers, it is that simple.

In the olden days for Christmas in Havre the Lou Lucke Company and every other merchant had a meeting in early November to decide when they all were going to be open between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong, sales were as important to the Lou Lucke Company as sales are to Wal-Mart today.

From 70 to 80% of our annual sales were made between those dates.

Typically Havre merchants would decide to not be open on Sundays but to open three or four Friday and Saturday nights until 9pm for the convenience of customers who could not shop during the day.

Guess what? That worked very well. People knew what hours there were going to be and that is when they shopped.

I cannot imagine any of us children or adults getting up from Grandma Lucke’s Thanksgiving table and saying that we were off to go shopping. That just would not have happened.

At the Lou Lucke Company we decorated for Christmas probably more than any store in Havre. We decorated the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving so that when we opened our doors for business on the next Monday morning, it was like Christmas in a forest. Those decorations helped our sales a lot too.

Doesn’t it look like total greed has set in these days? One box store wants to sell more than the next box store and will do most anything to do it. Even interrupt Thanksgiving dinner!

Don’t get me wrong. Americans will only take that so long

One day it will be back to Thanksgiving with family and friends and shopping another day. I only hope that I live long enough to see it!