EDITOR’S NOTE: The Kittanning Paper will be featuring area businesses this week as we look at shopping trends in Armstrong County. Today, we look at Miller’s Hoagies and Klingensmith’s Drug Store.
Santa allegedly may bring the present, but it is individuals visiting area merchants for holiday gifts that impact our local economy.
With multiple locations, there is a Klingensmith’s Drug Store near you. Each of them has a special gift section.
The Kittanning store was well-stocked with unique decorations that include winter-themed plates to Santa rag-dolls.
The local chain said candy is selling well in all of their stores as customers run in to pick up a last minute gift before holiday parties.
Klingensmith’s Drug Store worker Brielle Bowser stocks the reindeer stuffed toy - popular this season at the Kittanning store.
But it isn’t just gifts that are selling. Overall sales of consumer goods rise in December because shoppers are in the buying mood.
Jessica Boarts at the Ford City Miller’s Hoagies shop said food sales go up in December because customers are out shopping rather than eating at home. She said there are two specific hoagies that are being ordered.
“It’s a toss-up between the steak and the regular - they are pretty neck and neck (in sales),” She said. “For the cold one, it’s the regular. For the hot one, it’s the steak!”
Devlin Webb is from Indiana, PA. He was in town and said a guy in Ford City Park told him to go to Miller’s Hoagies.
“A guy in the Park said, ‘Hey they got good sandwiches over there’ and I just happened to stop. And I’ve been coming back for over a year now.”
Shift Supervisor Jessica Boarts hands Indiana-resident Devlin Webb his hoagie. Webb travels to Ford City regularly just to eat at Miller’s Hoagies.