Dear Customers,
As if you needed reminding, Thursday of this week is Thanksgiving! What you may need to be reminded about is the holiday hours we incorporate this particular week every year. As most of you long-time shoppers at Costa’s Supermarket already know, we only close two days a year: Christmas and Easter! On Thanksgiving, however, we truncate our hours a bit, closing at 1:00pm for a couple of reasons.
First, we started doing it because of our employees. They didn’t ask, we just felt Thanksgiving was a big family day and they deserved to spend the day (or at least most of it) with their families! Secondly, with three football games on the TV, tryptophan induced comas inducing drowsiness and the prospect of a second piece of pumpkin pie when you wake up from your nap, shopping for groceries was the furthest thing from our customers’ minds – except for first thing in the morning!
With credit to Robert Burns, “the best plans of mice & men often go awry” aptly describes Thanksgiving morning preparations. You can make a list – even check it twice – but it seems as if there’s always something you forgot on the big day. Either you overestimated your reserves of flour or brown sugar, or you realized you don’t have any black olives for the relish tray or – heaven forbid – didn’t remember to pick up that extra can of cranberry sauce. We’ll be here from 7am until 1pm on Thursday to bail you out of your predicament.
Back in my younger days, I was always the one who got stuck being the manager on Thanksgiving morning. Since I made out the schedule, I felt obligated to give the managers the day off. It was just me and two or three high-school kids who weren’t responsible for getting dinner on the table! I would see most of the town at one time or another – some of them twice – and a select few – three or more times!
I’m not that old that I don’t remember when every grocery store in Smethport closed by 5pm, closed Wednesday afternoons and didn’t open on Sundays. You’ve grown accustomed to shopping whenever it’s convenient! We’re grateful to be able to provide that convenience for you! Happy Thanksgiving!