Black Friday and the weekend after Thanksgiving sales are a barometer for consumer spending for the holiday season. Different than in past years, retailers and shoppers are dealing with rising prices on food, fuel and other times at the same time they are buying Christmas gifts. How that affects shopping is of interest to retailers and shoppers alike. 

The Panolian asked local retailers about their Black Friday and weekend sales and predictions for their season.  

Rita Locke manager of The CO-OP in Batesville said “We were steady both Friday and Saturday We were very blessed.  A lot of support from around here was shown. I think a lot of people were shopping local, which is good from all businesses around. It was a great weekend. 

When asked what people were buying Rita replied, “A lot of people are just they’re just looking to find something somebody would like. We’ve sold everything from boots, pants, clothes, grills, shooting houses, deer stands, It is just a lot of everything. It was very good.”

Angie Copeland from Dale Copeland Jewelers said they had a lot of repair work on Friday come , rather than people buying new items. We also had a lot of people redoing stuff this year which is a good thing. But our selling might not have been quite where we want to be but Saturday made up for it. We had a good Saturday and hardly took any repair. It was nice to see people get out. We have a lot of personalized jewelry items, a lot of monogram pieces, and special order items. We also sold a lot of crosses, which is a very dear thing to my heart. 

Linda Goodnight, owner of The Candle Shop said “This has been a good year so far. But people have been shopping since June or July. Open House sales were tremendous. Better than last year before so that is good. Customers are upbeat and happy,” she added. “People will find a way to buy for Christmas.”