Gift certificates are popular; online sales increase

Region – Retailers in downtown areas of central Pennsylvania saw stable to strong sales figures over the holiday season, according to several store owners in the region.

Patty Stover, owner of Jezebel's Boutique in State College, said gift certificates drove her December sales higher.

Nationally, total retail sales between Nov.1 and Dec. 24 were up 3.6 percent from 2008, though December clothing sales dropped 1.8 percent and department store sales fell 2.3 percent, according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse unit, which tracks consumer spending trends.  Online sales marked a bright spot for the economy, as they rose 17.7 percent over the same period a year ago – evidence consumers are shifting to making more of their purchases online.

Despite lower sales totals, the season wasn’t a disaster for retailers, who avoided the massive price markdowns of the 2008 season due to scaled-back inventories, which allowed them to avoid price markdowns and to sell goods close to or at full price.

Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors, declared the 2009 holidays “a healthier season” for retailers.

“It is mildly encouraging to see that most retailers were able to maintain performance after a strong Black Friday start, and that is yet another indication that the retail environment is stabilizing.” McNamara observed.

Janet Hammett, store manager of Blaine Boring Chocolate in Johnstown, said walk-in and corporate orders were both up during the holiday season.

“Our end-of-year figures were good in comparison to the last two years,” Hammett said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to sustain this momentum through Valentine’s Day and Easter.”

Hammett said the company, which has 12 employees, offered discounts for early orders and gave away a free box of chocolate to any customers spending more than ten dollars.

Discounts also lured customers into the High Street Emporium in Ebensburg, where owner Vivian Keilman had a “very good” season.

“I had a Black Friday sale, which I had never done before, and that tripled my sales on that day,” Keilman said.

Overall, winter is a slow season for the High Street Emporium, which sells a variety of wares from antiques to second-hand clothing. “But this season has been way above average in number of sales – it really hasn’t slowed down that much,” Keilman said.

Patty Stover, owner of the lingerie store Jezebel’s Boutique in State College, also had a good December.

“We lose about 30 percent of our client base when the students go home for vacation, so Christmas isn’t a really strong selling period for us typically. But this December sales were strong enough to make up for the loss of the students’ business,” Stover said.

Stover decided to discount $100 gift certificates to $90, and sold a “surprising” number of them to men – not her usual clientele.

“We did the gift certificate promotion to generate some interest, and I guess that succeeded,” she said.

The holidays didn’t put Lock Haven shoppers in the gift-giving spirit, according to Craig Fleming, owner of Haven Shoes, which specializes in trail running sneakers and equipment.

“We had a pretty typical Christmas season,” Fleming said. “We’re slow in the winter no matter what – we’re a shoe store, and people aren’t going to buy running shoes in the middle of winter.”

Fleming said the majority of the sales made in December were gift certificates. Betsy Rider, owner of Otto Book Store in Williamsport, told a similar story of slow sales overall but a large tally of gift certificates sold.

“We gift-wrapped a lot of those gift certificates, so many were holiday gifts,” Rider said. Rider said a new component to her business also generated some interest – online sales. She recently opened the store’s Web site to a 3.5 million-volume library online, and customers can place their order on the Web and pick up their purchases at the store. She said more than 50 orders had come through over the Internet during the holiday season.

“It seems like it’s a new way for us to compete against the big A,” she said, referring to Amazon.com, America’s largest online retailer, whose popularity has played a large role in the demise of local bookstores across the country. Otto Book Store hasn’t been immune; consumers now accustomed to finding bargains online are taking that mind-set into the store, and the store is seeing a higher percentage of books sold come from the discount section.

For most independent store owners in downtown areas, competing against national chains has long been a harsh reality of existence. What the past year has proven, many of those interviewed said, was that by establishing a strong local following, it is possible to survive even in the midst of a terrible economy.

“There are people who don’t want to see their downtown abandoned by their favorite stores, and they’re extremely faithful,” Rider said. “It’s those people that we’re relying on to carry us forward.”