Moments of silence amid Remembrance Day bargain hunting

Some Calgary stores incorporated moments of silence into a busy sales day that attracted shoppers who had Remembrance Day off work.

Some customers were lined up before sunrise Tuesday for the annual Remembrance Day sale at Willow Park Wines & Spirits, which usually attracts hundreds of people.

"There's times to remember. And I don't want to take it away from our soldiers that fought for the country but at the same time, there is time that people have," said store owner Wayne Henuset.

"It's a long day, so there is time that they can get out as well, so we do a little bit of both here."

Henuset said the store stopped for a minute of silence at 11 a.m. "We had a lot of people in the store and it went completely quiet for that minute."

He said the sale started 15 years ago in order to sell off stock before Christmas, and to clear out the store before an annual charity wine auction.

'The only thing you [could] buy was milk and bread up until 1 o'clock and now it just seems that people are saying, well it's just another holiday.' Bob Gray

The Chinook Centre mall was bustling, as a few shoppers stopped to examine a Remembrance Day display, featuring In Flanders Fields, the First World War poem by First World War soldier John McCrae.

But the centre was hardly silent as the clock hit 11 a.m.

One young woman said she forgot about the moment of silence: "I was at work actually. It was crazy busy, but I definitely should have and now I feel really terrible that I didn't."

Many shops and malls around Calgary advertised one-day sales to attract people with the day off.

Some veterans told CBC News they wished more people spent Nov. 11 honouring soldiers past and present, instead of shopping.

"The world must go on. If it's necessary, I think it should be," said Jim Grosset, a U.S. veteran in Calgary for a Remembrance Day ceremony.

"However, I do hope that they do recognize the fact and at 11 o'clock, they pay the proper respect. Just think of why they went, and why you're so lucky to be here doing what you're doing because of them."

Across town at the Royal Canadian Legion in Forest Lawn, branch president Bob Gray said Remembrance Day has changed since he was young.

"The only thing you [could] buy was milk and bread up until 1 o'clock and now it just seems that people are saying, well it's just another holiday."

Gray said he'd like stores to close on Nov. 11 so that people can focus on remembrance.

Although many felt the meaning of the day is lost in the deals, Master Warrant Officer Steve Merry, who recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan, said wars were fought so that people could have the right to choose whether or not they want to recognize a moment of silence.