SEASON TO SHOP
Frigid temperatures fail to deter area shoppers on Black Friday
TROY, N.Y. >> Despite frigid temperatures and the option of shopping online from home, folks still made their way out in search of some good Black Friday deals.
From the Shoppes at Greenbush Commons to the streets of downtown Troy, shoppers and business owners alike were taking in the annual shopping frenzy.
Among the most popular items and deals according to cnet.com are the Echo Dot, Jabra Elite 65t, Google Home Mini, Nintendo Switch + Mario Kart Deluxe and Amazon Fire HD 10.
Taking in some of the shopping scenes were Sean Fitzsimons of Delmar and his cousin Julia Timko visiting from Connecticut.
“I live in Delmar and I have my cousin here who’s visiting from out of town and we thought it would be nice to stop into Troy and check it out,” Fitzsimons said. “We had a great lunch at the Whistling Kettle and we’ve been sightseeing and window shopping.”
“We’re always very excited about Black Friday it always brings a lot of our regular customers in as well as new customers. We have specials today of 20 percent off regular priced merchandise,” Truly Rhe owner Rhe Potenza said of her sales. “We’re getting a lot of people in it’s been very steady all day, even though it’s been very cold.
“We’re selling lots of hats and gloves and
scarves today because of the cold and we’re selling lots of gifts, we’ve been doing a lot of wrapping, so it’s been a good day.”
“It’s been mostly fami- lies, it’s been steady, hasn’t been too busy, not anything crazy. We’re right here over at Artcentric,” Olivia Lockrow, who works at Artcentric, said of the Black Friday traffic. “It’s mostly people shopping for little holiday gifts, in our store furniture, it’s been pretty normal.
“We’re kind of just preparing for tomorrow, getting everything together, that’s going to be a lot more business than today.”
Tomorrow being Small Business Saturday, which coupled with more seasonable temps, should drive even more foot traffic to the Collar City.
“It’s been pretty steady kind of in groups but tomorrow is our big day, Small Business Saturday, really everyone comes out. I feel like we have a very strong community here in Troy so people will come out for it,” Theresa Van Duyne, of T& J Handcrafted Soap, said.
“Tomorrow is our six- year shop anniversary so I’ll be giving a loaf of soap away tomorrow and the first 10 people through the door will be getting Enjoy Troy bags with a special treat in it and then the following 20 will be getting the shop small tote bags with their purchase,” Van Duyne added of the Satur- day specials.
For those working or not wanting to brave the elements (or craziness) of the Black Friday tradition, there’s always the online option.
“I’m working today, so I’m probably going to do some Cyber Monday shopping,” Lockrow added.