STORES AND RESTAURANTS PREPARE FOR FEASTS

The public's appetite for a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings kept city stores busy Wednesday. In turn, some restaurants readied for people planning to spend the holiday dining out.

From Schnucks Food & Drug to Shop 'N' Save, to Del Farm National, shoppers headed to the store for Thanksgiving fare and other holiday items.

Duane Martin, manager of Shop 'N' Save at 254 Silver Springs Road, said Wednesday that the store was selling a lot of turkeys.

"Business has been fantastic. It always gets busy toward the holidays. People gear their groceries to the holiday items" and the Thanksgiving dinner, he said. Sales, he said, had increased heavily the last couple of days.

"I noticed a big increase in the last week. Our sales per customer went up quite a bit."

Martin said shoppers here seem to be making smarter buys this year by focusing more on generic type product brands. "Instead of buying Pillsbury flower, they might go ahead and buy our house brand or Nature's Best," he said.

The recession may be the cause, he said. "I think it's a showing of our economy nationwide. It's still affecting us here in the Midwest pretty hard."

Del Farm National Manager Jim Sturm said the store at 121 S. Sprigg had been busier than normal the last couple of days because of Thanksgiving. The store has sold a lot of turkeys, he said.

This year, more than in the past, the store has sold pre-cooked turkey dinners, Sturm said. The dinners come complete, he said, with trimmings of dressing and cranberries.

"I think it's just an indication of a lot of people working and they can do (dinner) quick and easy," he said. "There's your dinner right there, no fuss. All you do is warm it up."

The dinners, with a 9- to 11-pound turkey, sell for $17.95, said Sturm. The store also has dinners with an average of five pounds of turkey breast that sell for $16.95.

Shoppers were stocking up on all the holiday items, such as a lot of cranberries, pumpkin and whipping cream, Sturm said.

Shoppers at Schnucks, at 19 S. Kingshighway, received free turkeys for spending $75 to $100 at the supermarket, said Dennis Marchi, store manager. Marchi said the store had given away a lot of turkeys, available since Monday of last week.

The store ran out of turkeys for a short period of time Wednesday, he said. "It was tight a couple of times," he said.

One restaurant that will offer customers a Thanksgiving buffet today is Papa D's at Interstate 55 and Route K. "It should be one of our busiest days of the year, if not the busiest," said Assistant Manager Bob Raines. "We've got it fully staffed and we're ready to go."

Raines said the restaurant will begin serving for Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Adults can eat for $5.95 and children, 6 through 10, for $2.95. Children under 6 eat free.

Thanksgiving buffet is also available today at Robert's Restaurant at Benton. This is the sixth year the restaurant will offer a Thanksgiving buffet, store owner Gil Robert said. The restaurant is at Highway 77 East and Interstate 55.

The cost is $6.99 for adults. Prices for children are reduced and senior citizens get 10 percent off. Included on the menu are turkey with giblet gravy, carved roast beef and baked ham, fried chicken, and chicken and dressing.

Robert, too, said he expected a large crowd. He said the restaurant has set up an additional banquet hall that can seat up to 400.

Robert said a good dinner crowd can always be expected for Thanksgiving.

Home-style cooking is available at Robert's. The restaurant cooks its own gravy broth, makes dumplings and dressing from scratch, and spurns instant mashed potatoes in exchange for peeling its own, said Robert.

"Everything," he said, "is just like grandma used to do."