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A fine Black Friday at Renys
By Lynda Clancy
November 26, 2007
CAMDEN: By all accounts of those working into Friday night at Renys, the official
opener to the holiday spending season turned out just fine.
"It was really busy and everybody was nice," said Jessica Tripp, who was tucked away in one of
the back aisles at Renys, stocking cards and answering customers' questions.
For dedicated holiday shoppers, there is but one premium shopping day, and that falls once the
turkey has been packed away in the icebox and children are otherwise occupied. It's a day when
adults -- a good proportion of them women -- happily leave home to roam the aisles, scheming
boxes, bows and happy smiles on Christmas morning.
And retailers are dreaming about solid numbers after cashing out each register.
The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed Black Friday for reasons no one can decisively pin down,
although it is traced to the 1970s when shoppers clogged streets and stores to partake in good
deals-- and provoked stress and chaos, according to aggregated theories on Wickipedia.
The notion that Black Friday represents profit instead of red ink loss, however, has been
debunked for its lack of fiscal logic; nor is it always the busiest shopping day of the year
(enter Christmas Eve and crowds of men shoppers, or even the Saturday before Christmas).
But whatever the day's purely commercial origins, the air in Renys on Nov. 23 was buoyant, as
locals and shoppers from away filtered through the doors.
"I think the Christmas music in here lifts their spirits," said Tripp.
For Tripp, this is an interlude while her husband, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Wade Tripp,
completes month two of his 12-month tour of duty in Baghdad. It is his third round of duty in
Iraq over the past six years, and as in the past, Jessica Tripp has moved back home from Fort
Campbell in Kentucky while he is gone.
She is now living with her mother in Lincolnville, where she grew up, while keeping in constant
contact with her husband via the Internet and web cams.
Tripp has worked four, five or six holiday seasons at Renys; she can't remember how many now.
She returned to Maine recently, went into the store to do a little shopping, and the next thing
she knew, she was back on the payroll for the holiday season.
"I've seen a lot of people I went to school with, and a lot of friends," she said on Friday.
That's the fun secret about working at Renys during the holiday rush. It's about earning extra
cash, of course, but it's also about being in the thick of it right up until Dec. 24. The
presents are secondary to seeing other people who are having just as good a time picking out
presents for even more people in the season of giving.
"What do I want for Christmas?" said Tripp. "Not really anything, except I want him to come
home."
Up at the front of the store, Charlene Wilson of St. George and Beth Penney of Rockland
were stationed at their registers, chatting with the customers as carts were unloaded on the
counters. Giant candy canes, white candles, socks, boxes of candy, a shirt, wrapping paper --
all the goods were processed and bagged, and there was continuous banter about Christmas.
"A lot of people come from out of state to shop here," said Wilson. "One man told me he doesn't
go to Freeport anymore, he goes to Renys."
The store actually kicked off its shopping season the day after Halloween, surprising even
itself by the results of an early-bird sale that brought out shoppers in droves. Still,
the store atmosphere remains pretty low-key.
"You don't have to be tense here," said Wilson. "We're a pretty happy crew."
Wilson has already finished her Christmas shopping, and her own list is quite short.
"I like to see my kids have a good Christmas," she said. Wilson shops year-round, laying away
purchases, and padlocking a door so her children don't figure it out. (Forget it, Travis and
Megan. You won't know what she got you until Christmas morning!)
Penney, on the other hand, doesn't push the shopping until she needs to.
"I'm always out Christmas Eve," said this grandmother of 11, who has worked at Renys for the
past 12 years.
She is surprised by the number of shoppers who get on the ball right after Thanksgiving, and
counts Sundays "as really whopping days."
As for what she might want for Christmas: "You know, I don't really want anything. I just wait
and see. I am happy for whatever they give me."
Excerpt From: VillageSoup/Knox County Times Reporter November 2007
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R.H. Reny, Inc.
731 Route 1
Newcastle, Maine 04553
Phone: (207)563-3177
Fax: (207)563-5681
E-Mail: feedback@renys.com
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