Black Friday proved lucky for two bargain hunters after they won $250 worth of shopping vouchers during the Merimbula's Black Friday Sale on Friday, April 13! Wolumla's Carolyn Dewaegeneire and Holbrook's Kim Emerson, proved that luck does occur on Black Friday.

The raffle was drawn at Merimbula's Twyford Hall, and unbeknown to Mrs Dewaegeneire, luck struck twice. She was sitting at

the bus stop when her name was drawn, but she was unaware that the draw had taken place. However a bystander recognised Ms Dewaegeneire, who was then approached and notified of her win. In fact you could say lady luck struck three times for Ms Dewaegeneire, as winners were given 15 minutes to collect their prize. If the bus had run earlier, she would have missed the draw and would have had no chance of claiming her prize.

In fact it was a lucky day for all shoppers as there were plenty of bargains on offer. Merimbula Chamber of Commerce president Natalie Godward said the sale was a "huge success". "Retailers came to the chamber expressing their desire to have another sale day. We already had the Biggest One Day Sale, so we decided to have a Black Friday Sale," she said. "Upwards of 30 business took part and they all commented on a good day. It is definitely a sale we will again hold in the future."

The sale was held in conjunction with the Merimbula News Weekly (MNW) and East Coast Radio. MNW manager Grant Webster said store owners were "run off their feet". "The Merimbula Chamber of Commerce is to be congratulated for this great retail event, and the Merimbula News Weekly is proud to have worked closely with the Chamber to make it happen" he said.  "It's really refreshing to see such an invigorated chamber executive listening to their members and rolling up their sleeves. Although the street didn't appear very busy, many of the participating store owners I spoke to reported being 'run off their feet' for at least part of the day, and many reported far better trading on the day than they had expected. I was a little disappointed that more stores didn't get 'in theme' for the day but all in all it was a great success."

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