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Trio works to preserve historic drawings of Northeastern Pennsylvania

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In Focus: Liberty High School marching band keeps tradition alive

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The load was a little lighter Friday for Charlene Modlesky.</p><p>She went shopping the night before and whittled down her list to one page, carrying the creased sheet of paper pulled from a notebook with her Black Friday at Boscov&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>&#8220;It was like three pages long,&#8221; Modlesky of Edwardsville said as she and her mother Joan McDonald leaned on their shopping carts in an aisle near the young men&#8217;s department. McDonald filled her cart with clothes and Modlesky located another one to handle the overflow.</p><p>The pair joined others at the downtown department store for what used to be the official start of the holiday shopping season. It&#8217;s moved up a day to Thanksgiving at Boscov&#8217;s and stores nationwide, leaving the mother and daughter plenty of room to maneuver their carts without worrying about bumping into frenzied shoppers.</p><p>The National Retail Federation expected about 30 million to shop on Thanksgiving, compared with 99.7 million on Black Friday, according to the Associated Press. Overall, the trade group estimated about 135.8 million people will be shopping during the four-day weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. And it expected sales overall for November and December to rise 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion compared with the same period last year.</p><p>&#8220;I was out last night for five hours,&#8221; Modlesky said. For the most part the stores she went to weren&#8217;t bad at all. &#8220;JC Penney&#8217;s was packed,&#8221; she said.</p><p>McDonald had always worked Black Fridays and enjoyed the day off from her med tech job in Pittston.</p><p>&#8220;This is the first time I&#8217;m out in 20 years,&#8221; McDonald said.</p><p>She had an eye out for children&#8217;s clothes and coats. &#8220;Kids go through coats really fast,&#8221; McDonald said.</p><p>Modlesky, a mom-to-be, wasn&#8217;t too concerned about getting something for her son who&#8217;s due to arrive on Dec. 19. She said he&#8217;s pretty well taken care of clothes-wise after her baby shower and even has a Santa Claus outfit.</p><p>By 11 a.m. Santa had yet to take his seat on the red fabric upholstered chair at Boscov&#8217;s as Judy Horner and her family arrived for what she said was an annual shopping event. Horner, her daughter, granddaughter, grandson and his wife, drove nearly three hours from near the New York state border.</p><p>&#8220;I was born and raised here and went to GAR High School. We always shopped at Boscov&#8217;s,&#8221; Horner said of her affinity for the store.</p><p>Unlike Modlesky Horner&#8217;s group came without a list.</p><p>&#8220;We wing it,&#8221; Horner said.</p><p>But a stop for lunch in the restaurant was definite and so were trips to Grotto Pizza in Harveys Lake and Shelley&#8217;s American Pie Pizza in Luzerne for take outs for back home.</p><p>Boscov&#8217;s spokeswoman Irene Kelly wasn&#8217;t surprised by Horner&#8217;s return.</p><p>&#8220;People still like to come to downtown Wilkes-Barre,&#8221; Kelly said.</p><p>She assured that Santa would be available for photos. &#8220;We&#8217;re the only one here that has a $5 photo with Santa,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Chris Jones of Kingston usually shops on Black Friday and walked into Boscov&#8217;s looking for a few things.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m trying to get some deals for the family,&#8221; Jones said.</p><p>He&#8217;d looked elsewhere for electronics and hoped he could find something at the store. He also needed housewares for his adult children living on their own. Perhaps the easiest purchases were for the women in his family. Jones said he was shopping for &#8220;fluffy comfy slippers&#8221; for them.</p><p>For her last day in the men&#8217;s department Bette Sachs came to work with bells on. After 35 years at the store Sachs, 62, of the Lee Park section of Hanover Township, was retiring.</p><p>&#8220;Every year at Christmas time I always wear the bells,&#8221; Sachs said. She wanted to wear them one more time before saying goodbye to her coworkers and customers.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Joan McDonald, right, and her daughter, Charlene Modlesky, searched for sales without fighting crowds on Black Friday at Boscov&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday13.jpg</photo0><caption0>Joan McDonald, right, and her daughter, Charlene Modlesky, searched for sales without fighting crowds on Black Friday at Boscov&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday23.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Charlene Modlesky Black Friday shopping list. Her and her mother did some Blark Friday shopping at Boscov's department store in Wilkes-Barre Friday morning.  Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday23.jpg</photo1><caption1>Charlene Modlesky Black Friday shopping list. Her and her mother did some Blark Friday shopping at Boscov's department store in Wilkes-Barre Friday morning.  Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday33.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bette Sachs, 62, of the Lee Park section of Hanover Township, came to work with bells on, ending her 35 years at Boscov&#8217;s on Black Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday33.jpg</photo2><caption2>Bette Sachs, 62, of the Lee Park section of Hanover Township, came to work with bells on, ending her 35 years at Boscov&#8217;s on Black Friday. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday43.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Judy Horner of Gillett PA drove several hours with her family just to do Black Friday shopping at Boscov's in Wilkes-Barre.  Clark Van Orden |Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL112815blackfriday43.jpg</photo3><caption3>Judy Horner of Gillett PA drove several hours with her family just to do Black Friday shopping at Boscov's in Wilkes-Barre.  Clark Van Orden |Times Leader </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Subdued Black Friday after Thanksgiving rush</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Black Friday shopping in Wilkes-Barre minus the frenzy