PORT HADLOCK — It wasn’t unusual for Hazel Peters to be out of bed at 4 a.m. Friday.
“I’m always up then anyway,” said the lanky 88-year-old.
And since she was up, and her favorite local store, Hadlock Building Supply, was going to open early again this year for the only traditional post-Thanksgiving sale within 50 miles, she and daughter Dianne stopped by for a chance on a prize and to take a look around.
There were “lots of good deals,” Hazel declared, but she had to leave before the big drawing to get her hair done.
Diane stuck around.
You know what’s coming next.
When it came time for the final drawing — a $1,000 gift certificate — Hazel was still under the dryer as the owner’s son, David Kraut, 10, announced her name.
She’d no sooner walked back in the door than the gears began to click.
“We need some filters,” she said to Dianne, and asked, “how long is this good for, anyway?”
No need to hurry, it’s good for as long as it takes to spend, co-owner Bill Kraut assured her, standing by his grinning partner, Cassandra Arey-Rogers.
The two longtime employees bought the hardware, equipment rental and construction materials business at 901 Ness Corner Road in Port Hadlock from Kraut’s father-in-law, Joe Lovato, last March.
They hope the retail end keeps on chugging since construction’s taken a dive during this housing-based recession.
So far, so good, Kraut said, although the crowd this post-Thanksgiving sale-a-thon was disappointing compared with previous years.
“I think it’s the weather,” he said.
“We didn’t bring in the electronics this year, or toys — too hard to compete with the big boxes,” he said.
Dan and Robin Toepper were picking up some last-minute gifts when they learned they’d won some pies from the Chimacum Cafe, practically a historical landmark in the area.
The Toeppers did a “big city” day-after-Thanksgiving sale blitz once, they said, at Southcenter near Seattle.
Big retailers pass out tickets for the event, and the Toeppers were second tier, missing out on most chances at limited special items.
“Never again,” Robin said.
This year, as most did, they’d done the bulk of their holiday shopping, and they loaded their basket with ceramic heaters and jump-starters for the big boys on their list.
“We shop all year, whenever we find a good deal,” Dan said.
“That way Christmas is paid for.”
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Phone her at 360-385-4645 or e-mail julie mccormick10@gmail.com.
