Post Thanksgiving sales sign of good holiday shopping season

By Sarah Arkin

Published: December 1, 2008

Retailers around Danville have reported better-than-expected post-Thanksgiving sales and said they are looking forward to a robust holiday shopping season overall.

“It was the best day we’ve ever had,” Michelle Bender, co-owner of Dixie Bags and More on Ridge Street, said Monday in reference to Black Friday.

“We’re positive and encouraged by it,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a good season.”

High-tech gadgets seemed popular at some of the larger chain stores around town.

GPS devices sold well at both Belk in the Piedmont Mall and at Target.

Two GPS devices at Belk were a tiny fraction of the 200 door-buster sales the store offered as doors opened at 5 a.m. Store manager Shane Markham said that those offers probably accounted for the higher volume of customers on Friday than on Saturday.

Retailers are bracing for a sluggish economy in different ways, and most said they had lowered expectations.

“We’re adjusting our sales for a down-turning economy,” Markham said. “Some days we’re planning to do about the same, and some spots we’ve got some really big promotions.”

In all, Markham said he was optimistic.

“We feel pretty good about the way things went and we look forward to the rest of the Christmas season.”

Target manager Jay Furnas said he was “happy with the way things went overall.”

He said thousands of customers shopped at the store throughout the weekend with between 500 and 600 people were lined up at the door Friday morning before the store opened.

On Main Street, Ben Rippe, owner of Rippe’s, said his store was busy both Friday and Saturday.

He also is using a new strategy for holiday sales.

“I wanted to make sure we were moving merchandise,” Rippe said, adding the store will be “very aggressive” in markdowns before Christmas.

“It’s going to be interesting this year,” he said.

Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.