November 25, 2014 at 5:12 p.m.
Local retailers looking forward to busy, deal-filled Black Friday
Local retailers looking forward to busy, deal-filled Black Friday
Rhinelander retailers - both the big box stores and the smaller, locally-owned businesses - are gearing up for the biggest shopping spree of the year.
Whether a store is open on Thanksgiving varies depending on the business.
The Rhinelander Menards store, along with Menards stores nationwide, will be closed on Thanksgiving to allow employees and customers to spend the day with their families.
"We will be closed all day on Thanksgiving," said Troy Majorowicz, general manager of the Rhinelander store. "The way we look at it is we close on Thanksgiving so that our team members and our guests can spend that time with their families. It's a time to give thanks. That's family time that a lot of people may not normally have."
The store will start its three-pronged Black Friday extravaganza at 6 a.m. Friday morning.
"We actually have three different big promotions that we're putting on that all kick off on that Friday morning," Majorowicz said. "The first one is our six-hour sale, which goes from 6 a.m. Friday until noon. There's a lot of different items and sales in that particular span. At the same time, we also have our two-day super sale, and that one goes Friday and Saturday. To top it all off, we also have a three-day home improvement sale that will start on Friday morning and go until we close on Sunday."
Majorowicz said the store expects big crowds all weekend.
"We certainly are (expecting big crowds)," he said. "We put a lot of time, effort and planning into these sales, and we really bring in a lot of new and exciting products. Looking at the things we have available, we certainly believe that we'll have a very good turnout."
Mel's Trading Post in downtown Rhinelander will also be closed on Thanksgiving.
"It's a day to be spent with the family," manager Greg Graves said.
Mel's will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, offering sales throughout the store, some of which customers won't learn about until doors open.
"We've got lots of advertised and unadvertised specials throughout all of our departments," Graves said.
"We've got good buys on clothing and gloves and socks and tip-ups and snowshoes and cross country skis and downhill skis and snowboards."
Graves said he's expecting to see the usual large flock of deal-hunters.
"Yeah, I think it should be very good. We usually get really good crowds," he said.
Also located in downtown Rhinelander is Imaginuity. The toy store will be celebrating its second holiday shopping season in Rhinelander this year.
The Rhinelander and Minocqua Imaginuity stores will be closed on Thanksgiving but will reopen Friday to continue the company's Save a Buck Sale.
The Rhinelander store will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Minocqua store will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
"In keeping with the deer hunting tradition, we have the Save a Buck Sale where people can save anywhere from a buck to 50 bucks on select products in the store," owner Kay Hatch said, adding that the sale will go through Nov. 30.
"You can find these savings by finding the blaze orange tags. That's our big deal, and of course we provide our excellent customer service and gift wrapping."
While most stores brace themselves for huge crowds on Friday, Hatch said she usually sees even bigger crowds on Saturday.
"Historically, Saturday is a little better for us," she said. "People go to the big box stores for all the Black Friday stuff and then they're too tired from all of that so they come see us Saturday, but they're both good days."
Not all businesses are waiting until the sun is up on Friday before starting their sales, however. GameStop in Rhinelander is opening its doors at midnight Thanksgiving night/Friday morning to begin Black Friday.
GameStop hasn't announced its deals yet, but manager Carl Krouze said there will be plenty of money-saving opportunities.
"Our ad isn't available yet, but we'll be opening at midnight on Black Friday and we'll stay open until 9 p.m.," he said.
"There's going to be a bunch of deals throughout the store."
That includes deals on all of the hot new games that have been released recently.
"Most of them already came out, like Halo for X-Box and they've remade Grand Theft Auto V for the new systems. Then there's Assassin's Creed: Unity, a new Call of Duty that just came out, and for the Wii U Super Smash Brothers just came out last Friday," Krouze said.
It's those titles that have gamers ready to shun sleep in favor of hot deals.
"There's usually a pretty big line for Black Friday right at midnight," Krouze said. "It's usually pretty busy for the first couple of hours, then it tends to die off and pick up again around 6 or 8 a.m. and stays that way most of the day."
For those who just can't wait until Friday, Walmart has announced it will be starting its Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving. The Rhinelander Walmart is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Black Friday sales begin at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving day.
"Thursday we have a 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. sale, and then on Friday we have our big morning sale starting at 6 a.m.," manager David Althoff said.
"It's a lot of electronics and toys, just like every year. A lot of bikes, toys, kids' scooters, and then we have bigger products as well. Pretty much every area in the store has sales. Our pamphlet is a good 20 pages or more, so we have a lot on sale."
Walmart is also starting a one-hour guarantee to help ensure customers get what they want.
"Of course, every year we (expect big crowds)," Althoff said. "We have a one-hour guarantee, so if the sale starts at 6 p.m. and you're there between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., you'll get a one-hour guarantee so you can get to your product."
Given the early hour many of them will rise on Black Friday, eager shoppers are going to need fuel to continue bargain hunting throughout the day. To help to cause, Dunkin' Donuts in Rhinelander will open at 3 a.m. Friday morning.
"We're opening our doors at 3 a.m. and we're going to do 49 cent Turbo Shots to keep people running, plus we'll do some nice gift bags with coupons and things like that in them," manager Brenda Luse said.
Friday will mark Dunkin' Donuts first Black Friday in Rhinelander. Luse said she's hoping it is a successful one.
"We're hoping to have some nice crowds," she said. "We're looking forward to helping people keep going to get to all of their sales."
Dunkin' Donuts will also be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.
For more information on businesses with special offers, see the Holiday Celebration pages and sales flyers in this edition of the Northwoods River News.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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