Retailers brace for Black Friday as tax receipts soar

Will you be shopping on Black Friday?

If so, you're not alone. Major retailers from coast to coast — including many stores in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and the surrounding region — are anticipating big Black Friday turnouts despite recommendations from health authorities and government officials to avoid large gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some retailers will begin their Black Friday sales Thursday, while others are starting their sales early this week. Not to be outdone, several online retailers began their Black Friday campaigns weeks ago.

Although they don't reflect Black Friday sales, Cape County's latest sales-tax numbers continue to exceed expectations.

Figures released last week by the Cape County Collector's Office show the county received $525,565.25 in sales tax receipts this month, which was 5.25% more than the county logged in November 2019.

For the year, Cape County is running almost 5.1% ahead of last year's pace and, with $7,065.343.74 collected to date, there's little doubt the county's sales-tax revenue this year will easily exceed last year's record $7,376,389.06 generated by the tax.

Meanwhile, the county's use tax, driven by out-of-state and online commerce, is running almost 38.7% ahead of last year.

According to County Collector Roger Hudson, Cape County received $176,745.52 through its use tax this month, up more than 36.6% from the $129,338.37 the county received in use-tax revenue in November 2019.

To date, the county's use tax has generated $1,641,155.52 in 2020, far exceeding last year's record total of almost $1.3 million. It appears likely the use tax will approach, and possibly exceed, $1.8 million this year.

Deal Finder closing next weekend

Despite healthy sales-tax data indicating healthy retail activity in Cape County, a discount retailer announced last week it will close its doors in a few days.

Deal Finder, 342 S. Kingshighway, posted on its Facebook page Thursday its last day of operation will be Sunday, Nov. 29.

"With the recent move and expansion of Deal Bins (2136 William St., Suite 119 in the Town Plaza Shopping Center), and an expiring lease term at the South Kingshighway location, we have made the difficult decision to close Deal Finder," according to the post, which said a "store closing" sale, including store fixtures, is underway.

"Though the Deal Finder location is closing, our company is not going out of business," the company post emphasized. "As we continue to grow the Deal Bins store, we will soon be resuming our online auctions directly from our warehouse. We will also be introducing a wholesale direct pallet buying program, offering great deals on entire pallets of merchandise arriving by the truckload at our warehouse."

Jackson chamber will host unusual banquet in 2021

Rather than cancel or postpone its 2021 membership banquet this winter because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce plans to host its annual gathering at an unusual venue — the Rock 'N' Roll Drive-In along Highway 25 north of Chaffee.

Chamber president Brian Gerau announced the location and date (Wednesday, March 3) during the chamber's membership breakfast Friday. By having the chamber event at the drive-in, attendees will be able to maintain safe, social distance from each other.

The program that evening will include video presentations on the drive-in screen followed by a showing of the movie "Office Space."

More details about the banquet will be announced in a few weeks, Gerau said.

Virus dampens plans for family gatherings; study lists Missouri among least safe states

The turkey is in the freezer.

So are the pies and frozen vegetables.

We've got baked potatoes, sweet potatoes and all the ingredients for stuffing, dressing, casseroles and dinner rolls.

I even found my oldest daughter's favorite ham at the Schnucks in Festus, Missouri.

As of a week ago, we had just about everything for a Thanksgiving gathering with our daughters (who live hundreds of miles from each other), their husbands and our grandchildren.

And then, toward the end of last week and in light of mushrooming COVID-19 case numbers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised Americans not to travel and avoid even small Thanksgiving gatherings with immediate family members.

Just like that, our family Thanksgiving plans, which probably would have included a "driveway" visit with my 89-year-old mother so she could see her great-grandchildren, were dashed. (Although, as of this writing, it was my understanding our daughters were still trying to figure out whether there's a way we can "safely" get together Thursday.)

It's probably just as well. A new report issued by the personal finance website WalletHub last week ranked Missouri 47th out of all 50 states in a report ranking the "safest states to spend Thanksgiving."

WalletHub's study compared each state on the basis of 10 key metrics to see which provide the safest conditions for the Thanksgiving holiday. Some metrics measured how well each state is handling the COVID-19 pandemic — such as positive test rates and deaths per capita over the past week. Other metrics in the study included general safety data, such as each state's crime rates and the average number of DUI-related fatalities in November.

The "safest" states for Thanksgiving gatherings, according to the WalletHub study, are Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and New York. On the other end of the spectrum, the study said the least safe states (in addition to Missouri) are North and South Dakota, Montana and New Mexico.

Meanwhile, the study ranked Kentucky 20th, Arkansas 35th, Illinois 37th and Tennessee 39th.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

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