Advertisement

Scenes from a Kmart on Thanksgiving as shoppers seek deals

 
Published Nov. 27, 2014

KENNETH CITY — The Kmart parking lot did not smell of turkey fat or pumpkin pie and it was not full of fixings. There were no hastily assembled tents or anxious shoppers swaddled in blankets atop small beach chairs.

There was no sign here on 66th Street N of Thanksgiving or the frenzied Black Friday to come. It was, quite simply, just another afternoon in retail America as businesses push their holiday sales up earlier and earlier each year.

"Nice weather, good prices, extra time," said Pat Drogon, 68, of St. Petersburg, when asked what brought her out to shop on Thanksgiving. She bought a poinsettia plant and a few gifts, she said, taking advantage of a spare few hours before she had to put a ham in the over for dinner that night. It's just her and her husband at home; her daughters have moved up north.

"If I had my family — my daughters with me — I would not be shopping on Thanksgiving Day," Drogon said.

Rita Raley, of St. Petersburg, bought a 7.5-foot Ridgedale Cashmere Pine artificial Christmas tree because her brother takes care of the family's Thanksgiving supper and she had nothing else to do in the afternoon. Raley said she paid $149.99 for the tree — half-off — and said the store was only moderately busy Thursday afternoon.

"You always know it's good if you can find a cart right away," she said.

Kmart opened at 6 a.m. Thursday and advertised doorbuster deals on board games, a Samsung tablet and some Proctor Silex small appliances. In an attempt to capitalize on Black Friday and to appeal to shoppers that don't like frantic crowds, some businesses have begun opening late Thanksgiving day. The enormous Kmart parking lot stayed about a quarter-full most of the afternoon.

Best Buy, for instance, planned to open at 5 p.m. Thursday, and by mid-afternoon a line stretched from the door of the Tyrone Mall location around the corner of the building.

Janet Meling, 66, of Seminole, said she has shopped at Kmart on Thanksgiving Day before and it is usually quiet. On Thursday, she was walking her shih tzu Peanut around the parking lot after strolling through the store.

"I saw some good deals," Meling said. "Didn't buy a lot. Candy — I bought Russell Stovers for $3.99 a pound so where can you go wrong with that?"

Meling said she avoids Black Friday because she "can't stand the crowds." But on Thanksgiving, she and her family had a holiday meal at 11 a.m. Then her daughter had to get ready for a shift at Walmart that night, so the afternoon was free.

Several holiday shoppers were Canadians down for the winter or just a brief stay in the sun. Howard Snow, 77, said he and his wife spend their Novembers around Tampa Bay and visited Kmart for to buy a pressure washer and a steam cleaner, which were both on sale and cheaper than back home in Ontario.

"This was actually a pleasure doing this," said Snow, who added that his wife goes out on Black Friday, but he shies away from the pandemonium.

Romana Faisst, 66, another Ontarian, said she visited Kmart for some discount clothing.

Canadian Thanksgiving fell on the first Sunday in October, she said, so the American holiday didn't mean much. She might as well shop. "Coming up from Canada, we had Thanksgiving already," she said.