Kiger's Notebook

Is Thanksgiving shopping too much?

I'm writing a Black Friday shopping precede article.

The hot topic seems to be the fact some stores are opening on Thanksgiving for shopping with Old Navy being open all day and Walmart opening at 10 p.m.

The bulk of other stores like Target, Best Buy and the most of the Apache Mall shops are opening at midnight, which is really only one minute away from Thanksgiving.

These moves have incensed many people and have inspired a wave declarations of the sacredness of Thanksgiving and outrage at this violation of the holiday.

• I'm looking for resactions from Rochester shoppers to this.

• Is this an abomination?

• Is it not a big deal?

• Are you going out to shop on Thanksgiving? Black Friday? Never?

• If you are going out early, what deals are drawing you out?

 

 

 

Old Navy flag flying at new south store

The signs are there.

It looks like Old Navy is on track to dock in its new south Rochester spot by the expected Nov. 16 date.

Old Navy is moving into the 15,000-square-foot slot between Dick's Sporting Goods and Maurice's in the commercial strip anchored by Rochester's south Target store.

That spot has been empty since the center opened in 2007.

Old Navy is moving out of its current 21,700-square-foot store on South Broadway. It opened there in 2001 in the then-new Broadway Commons Shopping Center.

Still no word on who might be moving into that spot, once it opens up.

Thanks to Josh Banks for snapping this pic.

Red Cross's shop - gifts of charity

Some gifts don’t need wrapping.

Holiday shopping is taking a charitable turn with a new store in Rochester’s Apache Mall.

  On Black Friday last week, the local Red Cross office opened its own store in the Apache Mall.

“It is not selling items you might think of from Red Cross,” says Melanie Tschida, the executive director of the Red Cross’ Southeast Minnesota office in Rochester. “There aren’t first aid kits or anything like that.”

But there is plenty for people to buy … sort of.

For $60, shoppers can get 10 blankets. A comfort kit for an injured military person costs $50. The price for emergency water containers is $30.

None of those items can be directly picked up at the Red Cross store. Product tags representing those things as well, as a full day of emergency shelter, can be purchased at the store. Tags representing donations ranging from $10 to $100 are available.

Basically, a donation can be made to the Red Cross, and the donor gets a tag representing what the Red Cross can do with that amount.

”They are a lot of people on our holiday gift lists that don't need anything else,” Tschida says.

The Red Cross tags are a way to make a donation in someone’s name and show them what that money can do to help others.

She says the store at Apache Mall, which is staffed during the mall’s regular hours, is part of a pilot program. There are four such stores in Minnesota.

“It is a new concept,” Tschida says. Besides making donations for tags in the stores, people can also do so online and through a print catalog published by the Red Cross.

Black Friday starts in a big way @ Toys R Us

"The things we do for our kids."

That sentiment from Mary Rydman, who was about 10 or 15 people back in the line in front of Toys 'R' Us at midnight, was echoed by most of the estimated 300 people shivering in the cold early morning air behind her.

When Chris Jessen, the manager of Toys 'R' Us, opened the doors the line of bargin hunters streamed from the store all the way to the stop sign by Arby's and around the corner toward McDonald's.

Black Friday shopping was officially underway in Rochester.

Josh Clappier of Rochester was the first shopper through the doors. He'd arrived in the toy store parking lot about 8 p.m.

And what brought him to a dark lot parking at a time when many people were still washing Thanksgiving dishes?

The North Pole Radio Control Train set. From midnight to 1 a.m., it was selling for $29.99 compared to the usual $49.99.

Many others in the front of the line, like Rydman, were there for this year's Christmas toy craze, Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters. The first 100 people in line who wanted the little robotic critter were given vouchers to make sure they got one.

After waiting in the cold for two or three hours, many of the early Black Friday zealots had changed their minds about what they wanted most. They still wanted gifts like thre Three Musketeer Barbie or iPods, but something else has become more urgent.

A bathroom.

For Toys 'R' Us manager Jessen who was playing ring master and line monitor, the whole experience was educational.

The line of shoppers erupted in laughter when he jokingly announced, "I've decided that when I retire, I will never go out shopping this early."