They shop until they drop
The Shop ’til ya Drop women, a group of loyal Black Friday shoppers from Canada, visit with one another in front of one of their decorated vehicles Friday in Kalispell. The women took a break from their shop-a-thon for brunch at Sizzler before heading back into the busy stores.
Members of the Shop ’til ya Drop group play the rock-paper-scissors game to see which of them will end up with a stack of four challenge cards during a Friday morning brunch at Sizzler in Kalispell. The Canadian women, from left, are Carol Freimark of Castor, Donna Neufeld of Brooks, Kristin Long of Coutts, Lori Rolfe of Coutts and Jennifer Lepko of Lethbridge.
Lori Rolfe of Coutts, Alberta, and Jill Rowland of Claresholm, Alberta, take inventory of their purchases Friday morning before taking a break for brunch. After the break they headed back to the Duck Inn in Whitefish, unloaded their vehicle and resumed shopping.
A group of Canadian women is doing its part to bolster the Flathead Valley economy with an annual Black Friday power-shopping trip that will ring up roughly $80,000 in purchases by Sunday.
Their shopping marathon started at 3 a.m. Friday, and when this group hits the local stores, people notice. Some merchants offer complimentary gifts to the women, some of their best customers.
“No men. No children. No limits. That’s our motto and we live by it,” said Jill Rowland of Claresholm, Alberta, who has a lead role in orchestrating the shopping trip.
The “Shop ’til ya Drop” women began traveling to the Flathead for Black Friday 10 years ago. It started with eight faithful shoppers and has grown over the years.
“Some of the ladies don’t know each other,” Rowland said, “but we are all connected and you see them getting to know one another over the weekend.”
This year there are 40 official shoppers and 47 others who are “overflow” shoppers. Subgroups emerge each year with different titles. This year the “Frugalistas” and “Divas” were among the passionate shoppers.
They’ve rented out the entire Duck Inn in Whitefish and will shop in Flathead Valley stores through Sunday.
The women have a lot of fun, but they take it seriously, too.
There are rules to this game:
-- They can’t get caught without their name tags.
-- They can’t leave a store with no bags, and they can’t return an item.
-- They can’t get lost or forget where they parked.
-- They can’t phone home.
-- They can’t buy something at regular price.
-- They are not allowed to say “I don’t know,” “look at this” or “Oh, my God.”
-- They are not allowed to complain.
And they are not allowed to borrow money from a friend.
The consequences?
Public humiliation at their banquet tonight. For each infraction they are given a card with a number on it. At the banquet the meaning of the numbers will be revealed and women will have to take their punishment. For this reason they always are looking to get rid of their cards by catching each other failing to live up the challenges.
“Last year we shopped from 3 a.m. to midnight,” Rowland said. “And you have to do all of that without saying ‘Oh, my God.’”
This year the event began with a 3:30 a.m. Friday breakfast before making the mad dash for “Door Buster” sales. They regrouped at 11 a.m. for brunch, then hit the streets again in search of bargains.
The shoppers come down two women to a vehicle so they have plenty of space for taking the hard-won bargains back across the border. A few of the women have checked into the possibility of doing a one-way rental at U-Haul from Kalispell to Calgary.
It all wraps up on Sunday as the women pack up and head for home. But until then it’s full throttle.
“This is what we came down here for,” Rowland said. “When they close the doors, that’s when we stop.”