Wednesday, March 4, 1987
Thousands change their routines to try ‘something different.’
By Judy Bradford, Tribune Staff Writer
They gave up Wednesday night volleyball, the concluding episode of “I’ll take Manhattan,” on television and other middle-of-the-week fare.
The first “Singles Night” at a local grocery store proved a success, as several thousand people were attracted by advertisements promising a good time.
“It’s something different. It seems to be going over very well. I usually work on Wednesday nights, but I decided to take the time off for something else to do,” said Betty Colcord, 47, of Niles, while pushing a cart through the produce section of Country Market, 5901 N Grape Road, Mishawaka.
Country Market sponsored the event along with Special Singles, an Elkhart group founded by Clyde Hostetter's nephew, Franklin T. Wike Jr, that conducts activities just for singles and encourages businesses, such as restaurants, to think of single people when planning programs or menus. WNSN-FM, “Sunny 101.5,” also was listed as a sponsor.
Country Market manager Randy Hoover said the store was aware of singles nights elsewhere, but hadn’t really acted on the idea until Special Singles offered to help.
“I know that singles nights are real successful on the East and West coasts. We did it to draw people who had never been here into the store. Plus, we just want to be the first to do anything,” Hoover said.
Free food, an aerobics demonstration and a drawing for a videocassette recorder were among th attractions that brought between 2,000 and 3,000 shoppers to the store over the course of four houre, from 7 to 11 p.m.
Many single shoppers said they have a hart time finding ways to meet new people because the area is so couple-oriented.
“I just moved here from another state, and it’d hard to meet new people. This is different from the bar scene,” said one young man who didn’t want to give us his name.
As singles sampled sausage, yogurt, egg rolls, pizza, potato chips and pop, they said they’d like to see businesses sponsor more events especially for them.
“I’ve been reading about singles nights in grocery stores all over the country, and finally, the idea gets here. But it seems like it takes so long for this area to pick up on new things. We’re so behind,” said a who looked in her 30’s.
One call, a matchmaking service in Elkhart, did a lot of the legwork for the special event. The aerobics demonstration was given by Huff-n-Puff of Elkhart and the food sampling was organized by a special promotions group.
Men and women from Single People of Today, another Elkhart group for singles, modeled business and casual clothing throughout the aisles during the evening.
Mike Finnegan, 28, of South Bend, said he didn’t even know it was Singles Night at the store until he walked in and saw the commotion. He actually was shopping for food, with list in hand.
“I’m changing my diet – to something besides hamburgers,” he said, putting a chuck roast in his cart.
Others came especially for the fun, and came in groups. But no one, it seems, really tried to get a date out of the deal.
“I don’t plan to take a man home in this basket,” said a woman whose name tag said “Phyllis.” She came with two friends, and they were discussing the cartoon on the flyer that Country Market distributed. It showed a wide-eyed woman pushing a cart, and in the cart was a man.
“Some people here, I already know. But there are some I don’t know that look interesting,” she said.
George Schmidt, executive vice-president of Country Market, said Singles Night could become a regular event.
We’d like to do something every week and just make that night Singles Night, but it’s probably more realistic to have something like this on a quarterly basis.
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