FARMINGTON – Almost all the parking spaces on Farmington’s long Main Street and side streets downtown were full before sunrise Saturday, as shoppers, many wearing bathrobes, flooded into the stores taking part in the town’s annual Early Bird Special sale.
Reny’s, on Broadway, filled up first, as 20 percent off on Carhartt and Columbia products was scheduled to end by 7 and 8 a.m., respectively. As browsers filled up on coffee and doughnuts, scores of sleepy shoppers clutched piles of clothing, books, and winter gear as they waited in a line that snaked to the back of the store. One woman balanced a handful of plastic snow scrapers on one arm, with her hands full of books and clothing.
Rick Deane, of Farmington, waited on the sidewalk outside Reny’s, saying the crowds forced him out. “My wife’s in there shopping,” he said. “She does it every year. It’s just the good deals, I guess.”
Good deals, for all involved, have been the objective of the Early Bird Special sale since its inception, sometime in the 1980’s, said Reny’s manager Carolyn Mahew, who added her store prepares by stocking three times the regular amount for some popular items.
The sale marks the beginning of the holiday season for the Farmington shops that participate, and this year the week leading up to it was filled, not only with restocking shelves for the anticipated flood of customers, but with the arrival of holiday stock items, including Christmas trees, ornaments and scores of holiday greeting cards.
The Early Bird Special sale is the single biggest retail day in the year for many stores, according to Downtown Business Association President Mike Blanchet. It’s also a beloved tradition for shoppers, who, in addition to getting a head start on holiday purchases and saving 20 percent in the process, enjoy the festivity of getting up before sunrise to visit with friends and family.
Charlene McGraw, of Farmington, looked on as her daughter, Mt. Blue Middle School seventh-grader Chelsea McGraw, 12, hunted in vain for a pair of Crocs shoes in her size. “All that’s left are the tiny ones and the huge ones,” Chelsea lamented.
Finding good deals, however, is not the part of the Early Bird sale her daughter most looks forward to, according to Charlene McGraw. “She gets so excited. She likes to do it because everyone’s here, downtown,” she said.
By 8:15, the crack-of-dawn hubbub in Reny’s had subsided, as shoppers moved on to stores where sales went on until 9, or even all day. Melanie Coombs, of Farmington, who was working at the counter at Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers on Broadway, said the store had been especially busy during the Early Bird. “The books are so strong,” she said, explaining that a number of popular holiday titles have recently arrived on the shelves.
University of Maine at Farmington seniors and elementary education majors Caitlin Walsh and Christie Robinson, who huddled at the back of the bookstore reading children’s books, said they look forward to the Early Bird every year. Usually, they said, the early-morning crowd is cheerful, and the event feels festive. But, “We go prepared,” said Robinson. “We go in with the mind-set that people can be vicious when it comes to Early Bird shopping.”
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