Midge Thomas carried a paper bag up some steps, across a porch, and knocked on the door.
The sack sagged a bit from the cooked turkey and mashed potatoes inside. No one, however, answered to claim the food. Thomas rang the bell, waited a few moments, and then found a different door to knock on. Still nothing.
She stepped back and weighed her options.
The meal in Thomas’ bag was one of hundreds prepared this week by volunteers with the Fallbrook arm of Veterans of Foreign Wars, a nationwide nonprofit. VFWs act as gathering places and can offer a range of services for people who served in conflicts abroad.
This one was among several hosting feasts across San Diego County, but its home deliveries extended the bounty. You didn’t even need to be a veteran to receive it.
Men and women had already been cooking for days when the sun rose on Thanksgiving. There was enough food for 300 meals. While some would be eaten in the dining hall, more than half was to be driven all over town.
“Hot pot!” a woman shouted while stepping out of the Fallbrook VFW’s kitchen. She was followed by James Duncan, a Marine Corps veteran and a leader in the organization.
Duncan stopped at a man with tattoos running down both arms. “You want to do cranberries?”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
Duncan turned toward a guy in a camouflage hoodie and asked if he could oversee gravy.
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
Post 1924 sits just off a residential street in North County. There’s a dining hall, a bar, a covered patio, and a smoke room, which together carry enough memorabilia to give a fairly comprehensive history of the U.S. military. A framed Los Angeles Times cover from the 1940s (“Japan Signs Surrender”) hangs near hand-written notes sent by troops in Afghanistan (“Thanks for the cookies”).
One small table sat empty on a stage. A chain kept anyone from sitting in the chair. Atop the tablecloth was a poster that read, “POW-MIA.”
Duncan’s red T-shirt struck a similar note: On the back were names of service members killed in the 2021 airport bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan.
He watched as volunteers loaded containers. Bags crinkled. Styrofoam squeaked.
Thomas, the daughter of a Navy veteran and a leader of the VFW’s auxiliary committee, grabbed seven bags and walked to the parking lot. She set the meals inside a Cadillac SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“For an old woman,” she said, panting, “that’s a lot of exercise.” (Thomas is 73.) Then she balanced a list of home addresses on her lap, typed the first one into her phone, and pulled onto the road.
The mobile home park where she was headed was only a few miles away. Thomas slowed as she neared the entrance. This place was a maze.
Within a few minute,s she was knocking on doors. Many people who answered were alone. One woman explained she recently had reconstructive foot surgery. Another said her husband was recovering from a stroke. A third noted this was her first Thanksgiving not cooking a turkey in 55 years.
“Be careful,” Thomas told one recipient as the bag changed hands. “It’s leaking on the bottom.”
Acorns popped under her tires as she drove from house to house. Sometimes she hit a dead end and had to double back. “We’ll need breadcrumbs to find our way out of here.”
The home where no one answered sat in a cul-de-sac. Thomas waited a while. Then she set the bag on the porch.
Her next delivery was across the street. A man and woman with white hair answered that door, and as they chatted Thomas inquired as to whether the couple knew the whereabouts of their neighbor. They didn’t think anyone was home.
Thomas retrieved the bag from the porch and left it with the couple for safekeeping. But immediately after saying goodbye, Thomas rounded a corner only to see that a Honda Accord had since pulled in front of the once-empty house. A man in a flannel shirt now sat out front.
“You’re back!” Thomas said. “I just gave your food to your neighbor.”
“Thank you so much,” the man said when he realized who Thomas was. “Oh my god, can I write you a check?”
“If you want to make a donation, that’s always good for our veterans,” Thomas said.
The man found a checkbook and wrote “$20.” Then, unprompted, he announced whom he had supported during the presidential election. Thomas, who happened to be a fan of the other candidate, thought of several things to say, chose to pass on all of them, and instead opted for a wave.
Back in the car, Thomas checked her delivery list. She needed to get the check to the VFW, and there was still a broccoli and cheese casserole that needed to be made for her own family.
As she backed up her SUV, the man on the porch raised a hand in farewell.
After weeks of plugging increasingly inviting discounts, retailers in the United States and several other countries are preparing for prime time: Black Friday, the bargain bonanza that still reigns as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it’s lost some luster.
Department stores, shopping malls, and merchants — big and small — see the day after Thanksgiving as a way to energize shoppers and to get them into physical stores at a time when many gift-seekers are content to do their browsing online. There are enough traditionalists that Black Friday remains the biggest day of the year for retail foot traffic.
“I’m excited about it,” Texas resident Emily Phillips said while visiting the Galleria Dallas last week. “I save up all the things that I want all year and usually try and get them around Black Friday. I prefer to shop in person because then I can try stuff on. It’s a better experience.”
In the U.S., analysts envision a solid holiday shopping season, though perhaps not as robust as last year’s, with many shoppers under financial pressure and cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation.
Retailers will be even more under the gun to get shoppers to buy early and in bulk since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota, is giving the first 200 people in line at the center’s north entrance a $25 gift card. Target is offering an exclusive book devoted to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and a bonus edition of her “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album that only will be available in stores on Black Friday before customers can buy them online starting Saturday.
Best Buy has introduced an extended-release version of the doorbuster, the limited-time daily discounts that for years were all the rage — and sometimes the spark for actual brawls — before the coronavirus pandemic. The nation’s largest consumer electronics chain has released doorbuster deals on its app, online, and in stores every Friday since Nov. 8 and plans to continue the weekly promotion through Dec. 20.
“(Stores) are very hungry for Black Friday to do well,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said. “They recognize that they’re not going to clobber and win big growth online because the pie has gotten so competitive. They have to find a way to win in the stores.”
Impulse purchases and self-gifting are potential areas for big sales growth, and business isn’t going to increase without them, Cohen said. Shoppers are three times more likely to buy on impulse at a physical store than online, according to Circana research.
Shoppers stepped up their spending at American retailers in October, the Commerce Department said. Although sales at auto dealers drove much of the gain, electronics and appliance stores, and bars and restaurants also saw increased purchases, a sign of healthy consumer spending.
The latest quarterly results from Best Buy, Target, and other retailers, however, underscored that some will have an easier time than others getting customers to part with their cash.
Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, is heading into the holidays with strong momentum after ratcheting up better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter sales for toys, home goods, and groceries. But Target reported sluggish quarterly sales as cautious consumers curtailed their spending on apparel and other non-essential items.
Many retailers pushed holiday sales earlier in October than they did last year to help shoppers spread out their spending.
Shoppers were distracted heading into this month’s U.S. presidential election. Sales of general merchandise dropped 9% the two weeks ended Nov. 9, according to Circana, but have been rebounding since the election.
The National Retail Federation predicted that shoppers would increase their spending in November and December by between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same period a year ago. During the 2023 holiday shopping season, spending increased 3.9% over 2022.
So far this holiday season, online sales have beaten expectations, according to Adobe Digital Insights, a division of software company Adobe. U.S. consumers spent $77.4 billion online from Nov. 1 to Nov. 24, 9.6% more than during the same period last year. Adobe predicted an 8.4% increase for the full season.
Despite the early sales, better bargains are coming with Black Friday, according to Adobe. Analysts consider the five-day Black Friday weekend, which includes Cyber Monday, a key barometer of shoppers’ willingness to spend for the rest of the season.
Vivek Pandya, the lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said shoppers are paying more attention to discounts than last year, and their focus on bargain-hunting will drive what sells and when.
For example, Thanksgiving Day is the best time to shop online to get the deepest discount on sporting goods, toys, furniture, and appliances, according to Adobe’s analysis. But Black Friday is the best time to buy TVs online. People shopping for televisions earlier in the season found discounts that averaged 10.8% while waiting until this Friday is expected to yield 24% discounts, Adobe Digital Insights said.
Cyber Monday, however, is expected to be the best time to buy clothing and gadgets like phones and computers online. Adobe said that electronics discounts peaked at 10.9% off the suggested manufacturer’s price between Nov. 1 and 24 but are expected to hit 30% off on Cyber Monday.
Across the board, Black Friday weekend discounts should peak at 30% on Cyber Monday and then go down to around 15%, according to Adobe’s research.
For physical stores, the day after Thanksgiving is slated to again mark the busiest single shopping day of the season, according to retail technology company Sensormatic Solutions, which tracks retail foot traffic.
“Black Friday is still an incredibly important day for retailers,” Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, said. “It’s important for them to get shoppers into their store to show them that experience of what it’s like to browse and touch and feel items. It also can be a bellwether for retailers on what to expect for the rest of the holiday season.”
Mall of America hopes to surpass the 12,000 shoppers it saw last year within the first hour of its 7 a.m. opening.
“People come to get the deals, but more importantly, they come for the excitement, the energy, the traditions surrounding Black Friday,” Jill Renslow, the mall’s chief business development and marketing officer, said.