The pandemic, along with increased on-line shopping habits, has made Black Friday in Butte more like gray Friday.
“We’ve seen a lot more people in years past, but we’re very grateful for the people we’re seeing today,” said Butte Plaza Mall Manger Alana Ferko.
Some shoppers did take advantage of Friday sales at the Butte Plaza Mall and visited stores in the Uptown. Small business owners rely on holidays to make it through.
“This is our bread and butter for the year, and this allows us to save to be able to stock us up for new product next year as well,” said Shelly Conner the owner of Gloss, the Green Beauty Counter in Butte.
Business owners encourage customers to shop local.
“We need to get people out, we need to get them to shop local, walk around, see what’s Uptown, see what’s new,” said Kim Monroe owner of Rocky Mountain Children’s Clothing Exchange and Twisted Design in Butte.
Business owners say shoppers should be able to find out they need on their Christmas lists at local stores.
“They can come in here and find everything Sephora or Ulta, but in town shopping local. You just have to try a little bit harder,” said Conner.
The pandemic has caused a lot of business owners to roll with the changes, and despite this difficult year, some people are pretty optimistic about Butte’s future.
“As we move forward people are going to be more hopeful and we’re going to want to rebuild and people are going to look at Butte, Montana and see what a tremendous community it is and hopefully they’ll want to come and build something here with us,” said Ferko.
