Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411280024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Envision, a month from now, the eyes that will be brightened by the wallets that you lightened.
But of course, you've already done that, haven't you?
Was that you shopping at Kmart in Christiansburg ,where Pam Simpkins was checking off the pencil-written wish lists from her twin 8-year-old daughters, Gabrielle and Jordan?
A smattering of their wishes: Creepy crawlers, leather jackets and boots, a Sega Genesis, gymnast girl dolls. Simpkins already had the two dolls. But at $35 apiece, she was lightheartedly lamenting the approach she'd taken to figuring out what Gabrielle and Jordan wanted.
"Last year they got four things," she said. But this year, the girls wrote down everything they wanted before mom could set a limit.
"They're getting smarter," Simpkins said.
You might take a tip in clever deduction of children's Christmas desires from Kenneth Jewell, a mason's helper from Floyd who came down off the plateau to ply the toy section at Hills for gifts for his daughter and two sons.
Jewell first brought the progeny to the toys with his wife, Sharon, and watched what the kids took a liking to. Then, he exiled the family to the car and came back to do the buying.
"Not yet," have the kids, ages 2, 3, and 5, figured out the scheme. "They still believe in Santa and all," Jewell said. "We're on our way over to Wal-Mart after this."
Had they the chance, New River store managers undoubtedly would've thanked you personally for helping them kick-start the shopping season. Several said Friday boded favorably for the month ahead.
"So far, so good," said mall manager Tom Sheets. Friday was "the start of six weeks of good stuff."
"Better than last year," surmised Kmart Manager Greg Edel.
And at Wal-Mart, said Manager Herb Conley, "Things are hopping over here."
If you were truly dedicated, perhaps you filled up the car and went back home to empty it twice before going out a third time hunting for gifts-as Nancy Cooper had by 10 a.m.
"I started out at Wal-Mart, then went to Hills, then to the mall, now I'm here," at Kmart, pushing her 4-year-old daughter, Haley, around in a shopping cart, she explained. Another round of the same awaited.
"My husband thought I was crazy," she joked. "Today I'll probably spend over $400.
"I'm finding some good deals," she insisted. But you know the true nature of the shopper's psyche, don't you? So did Cooper.
"I see something I want to buy, and I buy it."
If you were truly lucky, you had as much reason to give thanks on Thursday and to be in the gift-giving mood Friday as Anne Baker did.
Baker, from Clintwood, also was trolling the toy section at Hills looking for things for her three grandchildren-including a new baby boy born this week to her daughter in Radford.
Baker does this every year the day after Thanksgiving. No budgets to worry about. Just the sheer pleasure of shopping.
Oh, but you chose not to battle traffic gridlock at the Marketplace? The "excuse me, excuse me, excuse me" rigmarole of navigating department store aisles wasn't on the top of your list? No need to weave through the maddening fray of sharp-eyed, bargain-hunting shoppers at the New River Valley Mall?
Perhaps, you took an offbeat path to shopping success, like Jeff Saperstein.
Saperstein took to downtown Radford in an effort to avoid the hustle and bustle of mall-shopping traffic. He was in Encore!, a gift shop in Norwood Center that features the unique and unusual, minutes after it opened at 10 a.m. in search of early Hanukkah gifts for his two children, Jennie, 5, and Jacob, 8.
While thousands elbowed each other for the best deals at the mall, the Sapersteins shopped alone, with plenty of time to make their choice.
Jennie selected a potpourri box with a cat on the lid. Jacob had already purchased a Far Side calendar from a coffee shop in the Norwood Center.
"Oh gosh, this is [Jennie's] favorite place," Jeff Saperstein said. "I do love this store. I really love this store, but it's crazy with the kids. And I won't go near the malls today."
If you chose to stay at home Friday, well, that's OK. No doubt munching on that leftover turkey and stuffing was at least an equally satisfying endeavor.
Just remember: only 29 days left to go.
Staff Writer Kathy Loan contributed information to this story
by CNB