Local retailers say Christmas shopping steady, up from last year

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

With less than a week of shopping to go before Christmas morning, sales have been steady.

That seemed to be the common reply from retailers this week, when asked how the holiday business has been this year.

“I’m always optimistic,” said Mike Lidd, who owns Lidd & Cordray Clothing in Charles City, which features men’s wear. “December is always a good month for us, and it is this year, too.”

Charles City Chamber of Commerce Director Mark Wicks said that, when measuring the success of the Christmas shopping season, several factors come into play.

“The mild weather has helped, but the economy in general has picked up a little from last year,” Wicks said. “Things were slow last year, not just locally, but statewide.”

Wicks said that in discussions he’s had with people at local businesses, sales appear to be better this year.

“It varies from store to store, of course, but overall, retail business seems to be up this year,” Wicks said.

This is Lidd’s 35th Christmas in Charles City, and he’s been witness to good years and bad.

“I’ve seen it up and down,” he said. “This year, it’s been steady — it’s not over the top.”

Lidd said that retail “is always decent” in December, due to gift shopping, and this year hasn’t been disappointing, but “there’s always room for improvement.”

“We’ve got a week to go yet,” he said, and added that people seem to looking for sportswear and men’s tops. “We do a lot of accessories around the holidays, from shirts and ties to socks and gloves.”

Julie Bock at Charles City Electronics has been at the local store for nearly 23 years, and she said this year, “It’s been steady.”

“We’ve had a couple of real big rushes,” she said. “It’s kind of died down now as we get closer to Christmas.”

Bock said that with people utilizing the internet for orders, foot traffic is down.

“People do a lot of online ordering, and they do more and more every year,” she said. “The people coming in are looking for deals, and some of them are looking to replace something that they use a lot, like a DVD player or something.”

Bock said she anticipates more traffic to the store in January.

“A lot of people will come in after the holidays with whatever gift cards they’ve gotten,” she said. “I expect that after Christmas, we’ll be pretty busy again.”

Wicks said local retailers are finding more ways to offer service and merchandise that attract shoppers.

“A lot of our local businesses in Charles City have embraced the local shopping experience,” he said. “Retailers have looked at the niche markets they can provide to shoppers.”

He added that Charles City is increasingly doing a better job of selling the community.

“We’ve done a lot of cross-promotion,” Wicks said, referring to the idea that one local business will refer customers to another local business. “It benefits everyone, all business, not just retail. We’ve realized here that we need to give people more reasons to come to our community. We have a lot more to offer in Charles City than many people realize.”

Shawn Zweibohmer, who owns and operates the recently-opened Unique Country Store in Charles City with his wife, Shelly, said holiday business is better than what they were counting on.

“Christmas shopping season has been great,” Zweibohmer said. “We’ve exceeded expectations, and we appreciate everyone in the community supporting us. The support from the community, and all around, has been wonderful.”

Unique Country Store opened in August, and the shop’s eclectic array of merchandise paired with an old-fashioned mercantile aesthetic fits perfectly into the “niche market” concept Wicks referred to.

“The name is Unique Country Store, so everyone’s looking for something unique, and they find it one way or another,” Zweibohmer said. “Probably the biggest thing — we’re discovering that a lot of customers are coming in and wanting the personalized, customized things that we can do.”

Zweibohmer said custom-made T-shirts, hats and coffee cups have been moving quickly. He added that he and his wife have been pleased with the holiday shopping traffic, although they weren’t exactly sure what to expect.

“I know we’ve done better than we expected, but being new here, we didn’t quite know where to set that bar,” he said.

Zweibohmer doesn’t buy into the old tale that claims the Christmas shopping season makes or breaks a business.

“I think we’ve got a lot of people who are looking beyond Christmas,” he said. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t think Christmas shopping makes or breaks us.”

Bock agreed, and said that may have been true at one time, but in the electronics business, that isn’t the case anymore.

“They used to call this time of year the ‘golden quarter,’ and it used to be the height of everything,” she said.  “Companies used to wait until Christmastime to launch whatever new item they might have, but now it’s launched all year long. It’s not something they hold off until Christmas for, because another company might have the same idea and beat them to the punch.”

Bock said that in today’s world, it’s how a business serves its customers day-to-day and month-to-month — not just in December — that makes the difference.

“I think it’s your reputation that matters — and that’s all year long,” she said.