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Friday, December 4, 2020
Vol. 80, No. 49
SERVING BETHPAGE, OLD BETHPAGE, AND PLAINVIEW
Local stores offer unique shopping experiences
HONORING VETERANS
BY GARY SIMEONE
Hempstead Town Councilman Dennis Dunne and Town Clerk Kate Murray attended the Levittown Veterans Day Ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park in Levittown. Also attending were Levittown VFW Post 9592 Commander Peter Stasinski and members; Levittown American Legion Post 1711 Commander Frank Marcinek and members; Den Leaders Kathy Prescott and Debra Cullen; Nassau County Legislator John Ferretti; and New York State Assemblyman John Mikulin.
Toys for Tots drive helps families impacted by COVID
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino and Councilman Tom Hand today announced a massive, month long collection drive to help benefit needy families and less fortunate children throughout the community during the upcoming holiday season. In partnership with the United
States Marine Corps, the Town of Oyster Bay will host a firstof-its-kind ‘Cruise Thru Holiday Toy Drive’ at John Burns Park in Massapequa on Saturday, December 5 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (rain date for the event is Sunday, December 6). In addition to the cruise thru holiday toy drive, collection boxes will also
be located at multiple locations throughout the Town, beginning November 13 and ending December 14. These unprecedented efforts will help collect new, unwrapped toys that will be used as gifts for needy children throughout the community. See page 14
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In what is certain to be a different holiday shopping experience this year, stores are adapting to make life easier on their customers. As a result of the ongoing pandemic, stores have instituted unique customer service options such as curbside pickup and FaceTime browsing and purchasing. For people who are anxious about in-person shopping, certain toy stores are offering their customers a FaceTime shopping experience to help them purchase their holiday gifts. Magna Mindz Toy Store in Hicksville has been offering its customers FaceTime shopping and curbside pickup since it reopened several months ago. “We’re doing all these things we’ve never done before to make our customers satisfied,” said store owner Sunny Dahra. “We are doing the curbside pickup, where customers open their trunks and we place the items inside, and the FaceTime shopping, where they can browse our store virtually and pick out things they like.” He said that the majority of his customers are still doing in-store shopping, but the curbside and FaceTime options have picked up as the Christmas holiday nears. “I have two store employees that are strictly dedicated to FaceTime browsing and shopping,” said Dahra. “They will guide customers virtually down the aisles to search for a specific doll or playhouse for their two- or three-year-old. They’ll either pay us by phone if they like what they see or come down and do the curbside service.” Alex Kuvitz, owner of Fantastic Toyage in Massapequa, said he has been bringing out boxes of items to his customers who are waiting outside in their vehicles. “I’ll bring out samples of toys that they’ve requested, and if they’re dissatisfied, I’ll go back inside to try and find what they’re looking for,” said Kuvish. “I aim to please, and with what everyone’s going through nowadays, I feel it is just a common courtesy.” He said that his store has hand sanitizer stations, and walk-in customers are required to wear masks and stay socially distant while shopping. “So far there have been no issues and if customers want to call See page 14
HHS teacher named Educator of Year PAGE 4 Novel ways to give the gift of travel PAGE 17