While some stores remain closed, St. Louisans enjoy last-minute shopping on Thanksgiving

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) - While some families begin to gather, a handful of shoppers are feeling thankful that places like Fields foods in Lafayette Square can be a place for their last-minute needs.

“We’re doing an Airbnb over in Soulard and we were just looking around for some place that was open,” said Sam Minner, who was visiting family in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. “This was a good find.”

“We’ve done this the last couple of years on Thanksgiving and Christmas and been really proud to do that for a couple of reasons,” said Chris Goodson.

Goodson is the owner of Fields Foods, one of the few stores in the St. Louis area that stays open until 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

“One, we offer our employees a chance, paying them time and a half to work, and they sign up within literally nine minutes,” he said.

A couple of other stores remained open to shoppers today, but since the pandemic, most major retailers have opted out of opening earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Day.

Yeah, I think it’s good for people, gives them some down time,” said Dustin Strayhorn, who was shopping for last minute food items.

However, places like Fields Foods remain open in order to also serve a much bigger purpose.

“Part of our mission is taking food deserts and making them former food deserts, so we have a lot of people in our community that are underserved living paycheck to paycheck,” said Goodson. “They just can’t shop one day on Saturday. They really think out day to day.”

The patrons say they appreciate those extra hours to make their holiday that much more special.

“Oh it’s huge, especially because they’re part of the neighborhood, so it’s easy to get right down the street,” said Strayhorn.

“These days, there’s so much going on but there’s still a lot to be thankful for,” said Minner.

“One of the things that is kind of neat is we get people that are not normally in the shopping region that are from out of the region to come down here and say, ‘Hey, we didn’t know the city was buzzing like this,’ so it’s a good chance to showcase our great city of St. Louis,” said Goodson.

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