Prestonsburg merchants spotlight shopping small this season

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. (WYMT) - After filling their plates for Thanksgiving, many people will be preparing to fill their carts and marking items off of their holiday shopping lists. So, the merchants with Shop Prestonsburg are hoping to see business in their downtown stores.

Many shops are opening Thursday night, some inviting customers to hit the stores for deals as late as 2 a.m.

“So that gives you a head start. You get to shop here, shop local, and find these unique gifts that you won’t find in the big box stores,” said Brittany Hale, Owner of Wildfire Designs.

The event is the precursor to some of the Black Friday sales and the Shop Small Saturday deals, as the store owners spotlight the importance of shopping small during the holidays.

“Community support is so important. I mean, when you look around downtown and think about our local extracurricular activities that our schools have, most of the time those sponsors are the local businesses,” said Kaleb Rodebaugh, Owner of The Scoop.

Those involved say it is important for the businesses to work together for events like these, but more important for the community to buy in.

“We want to keep the money in Prestonsburg. So, your money that you spend here will stay here,” said Hale. “It’s very humbling, sometimes, when I think... six years ago we were just a pop-up shop. We didn’t even know that we were going to do Thanksgiving night. And now, six years, we’re here and I mean our line sometimes is down past the building.”

Each store has different deals throughout the week. The Mountain Muse will have some secret sales, while others are advertising incentives and deals to early shoppers. The first 50 customers at Wildfire Designs receive free gifts, while the first 50 to spend $50 will receive an “even better” gift. The Scoop, which will open at 7 p.m. and serve as a place for shoppers to “get the scoop on the sales,” placing advertisements on tables, is also offering free gifts to its first 30 customers and new items will be released for the season.

Some stores open as early as 7 p.m. Thursday, others are set for 9 p.m. A full schedule of the store hours can be found here.

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