Miles and miles of shopping along Highway 80 will begin Friday and Minden is one of the top places to stop and shop.
The annual Highway 80 Sale will begin at 8 a.m., Friday and Saturday, where vendors will be set up all along Highway 80 through Minden, Mary McKinney, marketer for the sale, said. She asks that if vendors set up in the parking lots of businesses that they ask permission before setting up.
“The Highway 80 sale has been going on for a lot of years, and it goes from Georgia to Texas, all along Highway 80,” she said.
“Louisiana has been slow to get involved in it, but when I started Finders Keepers three years ago, I was using it as an opportunity to promote the store and other antique stores in Minden.”
She says she and the other antique stores began meeting and decided to begin promoting the sale that takes place the third week in April and the third week in October.
Participating this year includes Finders Keepers, Heavenly Treasures, Arts and Antiques, Possibilities, Mamie Bell’s and H&M Antiques.
Stephanie Winzer, president of the Highway 80 Alliance, says she and the other members promote the Highway 80 sale as a way to boost the visibility of businesses along the highway.
“Since we’ve been working with the Alliance, this is one of the projects that we try to keep going in Minden, making sure Minden continues to participate in the multi-state Highway 80 sale,” she said. “Businesses along Highway 80 have said they would get extra business, because people were traveling from state to state, shopping to get good deals. We worked to try to make sure that Minden got on the website for Texas so people could go online and see that Minden is a place to stop while they’re out trying to find a good deal.”
Although the Highway 80 Alliance has slowed some, Winzer says they are trying to pick back up with promotion of the businesses along Highway 80, from Shreveport Road to the east side of Minden.