Simple Blessings General Store began their weekend-long anniversary sale on Thursday. The sale is part of the store’s three-year anniversary in downtown Elizabethton.

The store promotes an old-fashioned brand with candy, bottled sodas, toys, honey jams and more.

The event, which has been occurring since the store’s one-year anniversary, includes sales on various items throughout the store, specials on food in their deli and live music on Saturday.

“We try to make it a long weekend sale for people who are working,” said Rita Russell, co-owner of the business. “We always start it on Thursdays and extend it through to give people a chance to stop by.”

The sale includes percentages off on Simply Southern clothing, Kerusso clothing, all toys and puzzles and deli specials. The live music will come from local band Nowhere Valley from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, which is free to the public. This band has also played at the event every year it has been held.

“We usually have a pretty good turnout,” Russell said, “especially when we put our Simply Southern clothing on sale.”

According to Russell, the goal for the event besides celebrating their anniversary of opening is to also give thanks and bring in new customers.

“Our goal is always to do better than last year, and for new people to find us,” she said. “We have people all the time, local people, come in and say they didn’t know we were here, so we love it when the local people come in and bring their out-of-town visitors. It’s a way for us to thank our loyal customers and bring in new people.”

Additionally, Russell said that a benefit of this event is promoting the idea of shopping local.

“Giving people a reason to shop local is one of the reasons we try to do these types of things,” she said.

Simple Blessings General Store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

“We invite people to just come out and say hello and enjoy looking around and going back in time for a bit,” said Russell.