OKEMOS, MI (WLNS) – While many stores and businesses are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, others were stuffed with people getting last-minute ingredients.
Meijer locations closed at 5 p.m. for the holiday but home cooks still had a chance to stock up for family dinner.
The store director of the Okemos location Ronald Colson said the morning was filled with shoppers.
He said the popular item this year, as always, were turkeys, with sweet potatoes coming in second.
One shopper mentioned the last-minute trip was helping them create a meal blending both American flavors and tastes from their roots.
“We got our mother a cabbage. We normally go shopping the week beforehand. But we left to go grab a bit of various supplies and she was like “Don’t forget a cabbage.” We were like “okay”. So, we are not sure what she has up her sleeve with the cabbage. But we’ll find out, ’cause normally for Thanksgiving, we actually do an Indian-style meal and a more traditional American-style meal. It’s kind of a mixed culture thanksgiving we do every year,” said Preeti Mohan.
Along with last-minute shoppers, store employees are preparing for the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.
A spokesperson with the Michigan Retailers Association said that despite shoppers seeing higher costs at stores and at the pump this year, store owners are expecting a good turnout.
Colson said while some employees are off for the holiday, shoppers can expect fully-stocked shelves.
He said the key to keeping up with demand is preparation and staging merchandise for overnight crews.
“We just look at the sales day based on how things are moving. We might add two or three people. But the crews here at Meijer do an excellent job on keeping the shelves stocked and feel very confident in the teams we have on board to make sure we are ready tomorrow morning when we are open,” said Colson.
If you want to get an early jump on savings this year, many stores like Meijer are already letting people access Black Friday sales by shopping online.
