Black Friday shoppers opt for Bigfork

It was the day after Thanksgiving and all through the town, deals were made and no one was knocked down. Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year and typically associated with big box stores and stampedes at their doors, but last Friday the shops in Bigfork were busier than usual.

“I know in the past we have heard that people love to come to Bigfork rather than fight crowds at some of the stores,” Tammy Riecke, co-owner of Riecke’s Bayside Gallery, said.

Although the shops in Bigfork were less crowded than in Kalispell, where over 500 shoppers lined up at K-Mart as early as 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, things were still busier than usual.

“(It’s) probably the busiest we have been since September, we had some good days but haven’t had people lined up since late summer, so we’re pleasantly surprised and happy about it,” Renny Johnson, co-owner of Montana Adventure Sports, said. “We are thinking that Bigfork is starting to get recognized as a shopping town.”

The store was running its biggest sale of the year and Johnson said they had around 150-200 people come in by Friday afternoon, while a typical day would have closer to 50. Several other shops in Bigfork were offering Black Friday specials, including Bigfork Drug and Sliter’s Hardware.

Riecke said their store was receiving calls from off their website and had several shoppers from out of town. Brandy Connell at Buffalo Creek Clothing Company, Abe Serrato at Electric Avenue Gifts, and Jill Mehall, owner of Creative and Native, all said Friday was busier than usual.

Mary Jo Naive, owner of Merry Gems, said her store had shoppers who were in town for the holidays. She pointed out that when her store opened 16 years ago it didn’t have to compete with Hutton Ranch Plaza in Kalispell.

“Before 9-11 it was a really big weekend. It is mainly the ballet that brings people to town, it is a huge draw for people this weekend,” Naive said. “The other draw is the town is so cute and decorated.”

Naive and Anne Conley, manager of the Bigfork Bay Gift Shop, both attributed some of the heavier traffic that day to “The Nutcracker” performance occurring at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts that afternoon.

While the ballet was a big draw for out of town visitors, it wasn’t their only destination. Johnson said many of his store’s customers would come in and browse and then return after lunch and purchase what they were looking at earlier.

“We can’t compete with the local Wal-Marts etcetera, etcetera, but as a local business we all do a good job of keeping prices down and treat people that come into town as the special people they are,” Mehall said.