OFF TO SLOW START
Smaller crowds seen out kicking off the holiday shopping season
SARATOGASPRINGS, N.Y. » It has been eightmonths and two weeks since the citizens of New York began to feel the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The toll that has taken emotionally on them was evident up and down Broadway and in the walkways of the Wilton Mall on Black Friday.
Yes, the stores in both locales are all decked out with festive sparkly decorations and their display windows have been finetuned to perfection. The wreaths are up on the light poles along Broadway and they mimic the larger wreaths that have been put up on the retail storefronts. But there is something missing and on Friday it was palpable.
Despite its label, Black Friday is usually a festive day. There is excitement in the air along with the sounds of familiar holiday songs. But on Friday the joyful tunes were missing, the aromas were missing, and the brightly colored clothing worn by shoppers wasmissing. This was shopping but it was functional; it wasn’t festive in any way.
Shoppers were appropriately masked, and they walked in groups leaving large spaces between their group and the next. Though the pace of shopping in both locations was leisurely, there was little interaction between groups.
Elena and Marie ( both requested their last names not be used) were out shopping at the stores on Broadway in Saratoga Springs because that’s what they do each year on Black Friday. The two had started out at 9:45 a.m. and by 11:30 a.m. they had stopped at the boutique Lucia, Saratoga Tea & Honey, and Menges & Curtis Apothecary.
“We came out for the sales,” Elena said.
“We like Broadway rather than the mall because it’s nice to shop outside,” Marie said. “If it looks nice in the window I usually go in.”
Acknowledging that some stores were not open Marie said some were planning to open later in
the day and she might have to make a second pass.
“We stopped in Menges & Curtis and browsed the soaps and candles and then made a stop in Saratoga Tea & Honey for some special honey that my husband likes,” Marie said. “They have all kinds of f lavors and it’s well-made honey; it tastes better than the commercial honey. This is a day for me to buy little special things for my husband. I’m not shopping for myself.”
Farther up the street city residents Rob Blunt and his grown daughter, Rachael, were shopping also. They too were looking for special things and had no intention of hitting themall this holiday season. With a concern for COVID-19, they wanted to stay outside as much as possible.
“We’re out today shopping because I need to get my mom something,” Rachael Blunt said.
“This year we’ll probably do all our shopping here,” Rob Blunt said referring to the city’s stores. “We usually go over to Wilton Mall and hit Target and Best Buy but we’re not going to chance it with COVID. We try and give some of our business to the small shops on Small Store Saturday each season but this year it looks like we’ll be giving them all our business.”
With that, the two headed off toward the brightly decorated entrance to G. Willikers Toys on Broadway.
From the parking lot of the Wilton Mall, it appeared that the COVID-19 pandemic had barely held down the number of Black Friday shoppers but once inside it was a different story. The mall’s hallways were sparsely populated and business inmany of the stores was slow.
However, it was apparent that personal gifts like specialty foods and scented soaps, bath oils, and lotions were high onmany people’s lists. Healthy Living Market and Café and Bath and Body Works were two stores that were quite busy.
At the small Bath and Body Works store customers lined up in the mall’s walkways for COVID-19 safety protocols when the store got too crowded.
Christian, who asked that her last name not be used, came to the mall with relatives to visit just two stores. A resident of Saratoga County, she said she planned to shop Broadway in Saratoga Springs on Small Business Saturday.
“COVID had an impact on our shopping plans this year,” she said. “We came today to stop in Dick’s and Old Navy because we thought it wouldn’t be crowded. And, because I didn’t want to take any chances of going into a store only to find they didn’t have what I was after, I checked everything out online first.”