Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Ayanna Eckblad

For many families, the holiday season begins with Thanksgiving and then continues through the weekend for busy shopping days like Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

In Albert Lea, both retail chains and small businesses welcomed large numbers of customers Friday who came in looking for good deals and the perfect gifts.

Shoppers like Kara Heinemann stopped in at Dunham’s Sports after visiting other stores like Walmart and Bomgaars.

Heinemann said she does not usually get up as early as some for Black Friday shopping, and began her day around 8:30 a.m.. She enjoys the later opening hours that have emerged after being closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Back in the day, you used to have to wait outside forever,” she said.

It is a busy time not just for customers, but also for store owners and employees. One example of these is Homestead Boutique, a small business that has been open for five years. This year is the second holiday season in its new location in downtown Albert Lea.

“It’s been a great day so far,” said store owner Angela Moller. “Right away this morning we had lots of excited shoppers waiting at the door to get in and shop our doorbuster deals. The boutique kept its usual hours and opened at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.

“We like to let people go and do their early morning at the big box stores first and then come on downtown and check out all the small businesses,” Moller said. She explained that Small Business Saturday is typically a busier day for her store than Friday.

“We’re grateful to have such a great community that supports our small businesses all through the year and especially on this big shopping weekend,” she said.

Another downtown store, Man Between the Lakes, was also experiencing a high number of customers.

Austin Perkins, one of the store’s owners, decided to work slightly longer hours over the weekend since there would be more customers than usual. The store also decided to give out “swag bags” with goodies to the first 10 shoppers that came in this morning. They had given all of the swag bags out within the first hour.

“It’s the best shopping day of the year,” Perkins said. “We always try to do great deals to draw people in, and this year we’ve had a lot of giveaways. One common theme this year is that people are excited to shop small in Albert Lea.

“We’re trying to shop local,” said Yolanda Grund, a shopper at Dunham’s Sports. “[We’re] looking for all the good deals.”

Store owners Moller and Perkins both expressed similar opinions.

“I think a lot of people have been trying to support local and shop local,” Perkins said.

He also said he is not sure if Friday or Saturday will be busier for Man Between the Lakes, but he knows that it will be filled with customers either way.

“It’s going to be busy from here until Christmas because it’s the holiday season,” he said.