January 25, 2007

By Virgil Hervey

For the second consecutive year, good weather helped boost holiday sales for most downtown businesses, according to an informal survey of a dozen shop owners this week.

“This December was awesome. It was definitely due to the weather,” said Cyndee Perkins, manager of the Import House. That store’s business was a “good mix” of locals with out-of-towners, she said.

Last year, Terre Pope, manager of Global Gallery, viewed the holiday shopping season as a test as to whether the store would remain in the village, he said. When Yellow Springs passed the test, the business, which had been located in Kings Yard, moved to Xenia Avenue. Pope said he is glad the store stayed in town and is happy with the new location. He attributes the greater visibility of the Xenia Avenue location with bringing in a “bit more local traffic.”

“The good weather both helped and hurt,” he said of this year’s holiday season. While the shoppers were out in good numbers, they weren’t feeling the need to buy winter wear.

Ohio Silver’s business was up about 5 percent over last December, according to owner Marcia Wallgren.

“The weather helped. Two years ago was a disaster,” she said, referring to December 2005, which caused her to close down the shop for two weeks. The store does one-fifth of its business for the year in the last month and one-half of that in the week before Christmas, she said.

According to Wallgren, Ohio Silver was up 4–5 percent for the whole year.

“Credit card use was way up,” she said. “Then there was a sudden switch to cash in the week before the New Year.” She noted that the split between villagers and out-of-towners continues to be about 50/50, which she said has been the case for the last 12–15 years.

According to Janet Murie of Yellow Springs Pottery, the pottery cooperative has a lot of loyal Yellow Springs customers. She noted that many former villagers who return to visit for the holidays contribute to that local loyalty. According to Murie, Christmas 2006 was a “fairly decent season.”

“It was the weather, absolutely,” she said.

Nancy Mellon of Village Artisans Gallery, also a co-op, said that November was dead for her store, but December was good, even better than last year. She also noticed an increase in December sales last year, Mellon said, but she attributed it to the gallery’s move to a more visible location in Kings Yard.

At Design Sleep on Dayton Street, business was up about 10 percent over the previous December, according to owner Mike Koveleski, who noted that this January was off to an even better start. Beds are not your normal gift item, Koveleski said, and the hot ticket items in his store during the holidays are pillows, lamps, and paintings.

Over at Glen Garden Gifts, salesperson Jillyanna Morris called the 2006 holidays a “great season” and said business was definitely up over last year. She attributed the uptick to the weather and “new product lines that flew out the door,” mostly garden items, hummingbird feeders and books.

“A lot of it was community,” she said.

Since the 2005 holiday season, No Common Scents moved from its longtime location in Kings Yard to the south end of town in the old Eye 1 building. Owner Patti Purdin said the weekend before Christmas wasn’t as good as she hoped, and in general, business has been slow since the move, but it has been picking up. However, the store’s regular customers seem to be dropping in more because the business now has its own parking lot, she said.

Mark Crockett, owner of Rita Caz Jewelry Studio, said the month of December was fine, “about the same as last year.” However, in October and November sales were down. Crockett thinks the local economy with its recent job losses may be the reason customers seemed to put off repairs and custom jewelry purchases until December. However, January is already shaping up to be a good month, he said.

At Sam and Eddie’s Open Books, store traffic seemed constant compared to last year, according to owner Eddie Eckenrode.

“The good weather was a plus,” Eckenrode said.

Mr. Fub’s Party experienced a 10-percent increase in sales over the entire year, according to owner Priscilla Moore. Holiday sales also improved over last year, but not by as much as the year in general, she said.

Last year, Moore told the News that she was concerned that the opening of the Greene, a new mall in Beavercreek, might affect her business. Interviewed recently, she said her concerns had abated, and she attributed her good year to her unique product line.

Chamber of Commerce Coordinator Adrienne Chesire said she was pleased with the holiday turnout and would like to see even more in future holiday seasons. “The chamber has to continue to work with businesses to keep sales up due to increased competition,” she said. “The businesses are looking good and the owners are driven.”

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com