Goshen News, Goshen, IN

Breaking News

Local News

Related Photos

  • From left, Ashley Axline, Kathy Munro and Melissa Axline look over merchandise at the Goshen Target store on Black Friday. The Axlines are from Edwardsburg, Mich., and Munro is from Elkhart. SCOTT WEISSER

    1123 Black Friday3.jpg
November 24, 2012

BLACK FRIDAY: Preparation, anticipation add to this special day

By SCOTT WEISSER THE GOSHEN NEWS

GOSHEN — David Waddell has been a Kohl’s employee for 15 years, and a store manager the last year and a half.

This week’s Black Friday was Waddell’s second heading up a store. He marked the occasion, at the stroke of midnight, with around 700 guests.

Those were the folks massed outside the northwest Goshen retailer, ready to take advantage of in-store price breaks and — along with consumers nationwide — kick off the holiday purchasing period.

“Customers are embracing the shopping season already,” Waddell said shortly after 8 a.m. Friday.

Waddell said staffers at the Goshen Kohl’s had been prepping for Black Friday all week leading up the event. The retail quasi-holiday was also on the calender at Target, located in the same Goshen shopping complex.

“We definitely have this day marked, and have been waiting for it and preparing for it for quite some time,” said Greg Butts, a Target team head.

Kohl’s and Target were catering to customers on a quest for bargains, certainly. However, Black Friday often doubles as an opportunity for some pre-Christmas family togetherness.

“It’s more of the family outing than the great deal,” Goshen-area resident Stacy Horner said at the Target store. Horner was on hand with her dad, Terry Hendricks, sisters Kelly Schrock and Tracy Martin and sister-in-law Stephanie Hendricks.

“My daughters and I go every year,” Terry said of Black Friday, taking a break from pushing a cart. “I have seven grandkids now. It’s easier for them to pick out, and so we just go and get it all done (the holiday shopping) at one time.”

Then, in keeping with tradition, the Hendricks clan goes out for breakfast.

The family’s shopping experience started at 6 a.m. Friday. No problem — Terry’s daughters reported they have “the Hendricks gene,” meaning they get up early.

Early rising was also the order of the day for Kathy Munro of Elkhart and her family, including daughter and granddaughters Melissa, Autumn and Ashley Axline of Edwardsburg, Mich. They got up at 5:30 a.m., began their Black Friday at Kohl’s and headed to Sam’s Club. Target was the family’s third shopping stop.

“We’ll go ’til late afternoon, probably,” Munro said. “It just gets us in the holiday spirit.”

“It’s girls’ time,” Melissa Axline said.

Text Only
Local News
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Poll

Have recent scandals involving the U.S. government altered your opinion of President Obama’s job performance?

Yes, I think less of the president’s job performance
No, my opinions have not been impacted one way or the other
     View Results
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting