Published: December 01, 2008 11:03 pm      

Local retail business strong on heels of Black Friday sales

ASHLAND — From pink rifles and pistol grips to hardware and Hannah Montana toys, local merchants say customer demand for Christmas gifts seems quite healthy in the days following Black Friday 2008.

Greg Borders at Borders Sporting Goods confirmed they had a buying crowd at the store in Summit Friday.

“I thought we did really well,” he said, explaining his staff worked with sportsmen from three states gearing up for different hunting seasons, as well as Christmas shoppers.

“We see so many scenarios at Christmas time,” Borders said, including many wives who bring their husbands in to figure out what they may want for Christmas, and others who are essentially shopping for items and equipment which best suits their personal needs.

“We always sell a lot of knives this time of year,” Borders said, indicating customer investments in collectible knives as well as blades made for daily use or field purposes. Staff members also sold several hunting bows and related equipment Friday, Borders said, and a few crank baits intended as stocking stuffers for anglers.

Youth firearms and other models marketed toward female shooters have also been in demand this year, he said. Those models, which often include pink highlights or components are designed with a high degree of safety, he noted.

While many of their shoppers are interested in buying a gun safe, Borders chuckled as he explained those gifts can be hard to keep hidden until Santa arrives.

“Everybody wants those delivered on the 24th at 6 p.m.,” he said, explaining they try to have those units delivered by the 22nd or 23rd. One lady who bought a gun safe and had it loaded into a truck this weekend said she plans to simply keep it covered until Christmas.

Mary Hearn at Ashland Town Center said merchants there also reported outstanding holiday shopping trends.

“Looking at our traffic reports we were actually up compared to last year,” Hearn said, adding the shopping center had a 32 percent hike in customers on Black Friday compared to 2007, as well as a 33 percent increase on the Saturday following.

After surveying individual stores about their holiday business, Hearn said several are reporting high rankings for stores in their regions, as well as excellent sales figures compared to other locations company-wide.

At Kyova Mall, General Manager Chrissy Dillow also reported plenty of customers on Black Friday and the days since.

“At Angel’s Cards & Gifts they had a more than 50 percent increase from last year,” Dillow said, adding the mall “was packed with people. It was really nice to see that.”

Confirming large crowds of customers who appeared to be shopping at Sears and Elder-Beerman, Dillow said the lure of entertainment was also strong on Black Friday.

“Later that evening the Phoenix Theatre was swamped,” she said, citing the most popular film of the evening as the holiday-themed “Four Christmases.”