JACKSON SHOPPING SEASON STRONG

JACKSON -- The Christmas season could have been hellish for Country Mart's store manager.

Instead, it was heavenly.

Manager Jim Kincey oversaw the building of a new store for months, then supervised the delivery of thousands of boxes carrying merchandise. For six days, both Town & Country, the old store, and Country Mart, the new store, were open together.

Customers swarmed the new, expanded location, filling it day after day. There was no time for a trial run -- the Christmas season was here, along with its high demand for baking supplies, gift items and many other odds and ends.

"It was definitely the best Christmas season we ever had in Jackson," Kincey said. "The holiday items just flew out of here. Pies, cakes, cranberry sauce, spices -- we couldn't keep anything that had to do with baking on the shelves."

Items moved so well that there wasn't much left for those traditional half-price-after-Christmas sales, Kincey said.

"We hope to be more prepared next time, but it was hard to predict what we were going to need," he said. "I think we did a pretty good job of fulfilling people's needs."

Kincey wasn't the only Jackson store manager glowing with the joy of boosted sales figures. Debbie Allen, manager of Wal-Mart, said her store had a healthy season, too.

Tuesday morning, there were more people coming in to spend than to return or exchange. Women in the Wal-Mart parking lot joked about starting on next year's Christmas shopping.

"We had people at 5:30 this morning," Allen said, noting that the store doesn't open until 7 a.m. "By 9, we were really busy."

Becky Henley, owner of Becky's, a women's clothing store, had her first Christmas in Jackson. She started her business in Gordonville, moving to Jackson in October.

She said the move was a good idea, because people just driving by often stop in to spend money in the store.

"We had a really good Christmas," she said. "We sold a lot of Christmas sweatshirts. People bought them for themselves and as gifts."

At Pocahontas Lumber, Christmas Village pieces were the hot items people bought for themselves and others. However, manager Earl Saupe said Christmas doesn't make or break his store.

"It isn't as big a deal for us as the weather," he said. "That's been kind of tough, but it isn't affecting us really badly."