Black Friday in New Canaan is a tradition for Nancy Gould. Rather than get up early and travel to the big post-Thanksgiving sales at malls and big box stores, Gould and her family are content to walk through downtown New Canaan to do holiday shopping.
"It's been great," Gould said as she, her sisters and her mother perused Wave, a jewelry store on Main Street. "New Canaan has such great small stores."
Wave employees Dina Keeffe and Maggie Groves said the jewelry shop had plenty of traffic. "We stated a little slow with the weather being bad, but it's definitely picked up," Keeffe said.
"Our store is very festive, and people like to stop in," Groves said. "So many people are visiting and the college kids are home. We think people want to come out and spend a little."
Downtown shop owners were hoping to hear the same thing as they hoped for big business on the first major shopping weekend before Christmas. Staff at stores along Main and Elm streets expected slow traffic Friday morning, with shoppers going to malls before heading back home to visit New Canaan's shops and boutiques.
Elizabeth Correa, owner of Candy Nichols, a children's clothing store on Elm Street, said November was a strong month for the store. Though the shop was quiet before noon, Correa was anticipating a heavy afternoon and weekend, which has been the case in 20 years of doing business. "We'll be happy to see them," Correa said of the customers. "The week leading up to Thanksgiving was good, too."
Katy Powers, a salesperson at True Blue, said she expected a swarm of customers after lunch Friday. She did some shopping for herself before going to work.
"It's definitely fun," she said.
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