A glimpse at the holiday season for downtown Colville businesses

BY SOPHIA ALDOUS

S-E Staff Reporter

While retailers across the country may be cringing at the idea of a slow holiday season because of the ongoing recession, the bubble has yet to burst for Colville’s downtown businesses.

   In fact, a weakened economy could be one of the reasons some local businesses are seeing a boost in sales.

   “I’ve heard quite a few people say they don’t want to drive to Spokane this year, because they don’t think it will save them money for their holiday shopping,” said Donna Parazoo, owner of Constructive Fun Toy Store. “I think people have actually discovered that I’m here too, which has really helped. Word-of-mouth has been good.”

   The mileage to Spokane could play a factor in consumers’ decision to buy local. After all, by the time the icy roads are braved, pay-for parking is located, and lunch and possibly dinner are purchased, on top of shopping for Christmas presents, how much money has really been saved?

   “There are some things I go to Spokane for, because I just can’t find them here,” said Kettle Falls resident, Maggie Atkinson. “But I try to shop in our area as much as possible, because we do have some great gifts here, and I’d much rather give my money to friends and neighbors then strangers.”

   In an effort to keep dollars closer to home, Colville Chamber of Commerce Manager Tricia Woods has organized the Shop Colville event Saturday, Dec. 12. Starting at 11 a.m., the celebration will feature free wagon rides, hot cocoa and pictures with Santa, among other activities.

   “You just hope that you can do something that appeals to people and encourages them to spread their money around the community,” said Woods. “It can be hard to figure out what people want sometimes though.”

Shopping lures

and incentives

   Parazoo said she has seen a 25 percent increase in sales for the month of December this year as compared to last year. She has also tried drawing shoppers out with incentives such as a Black Saturday sale this weekend as a follow-up to the Black Friday sale after Thanksgiving.

   “My Black Friday sales were double this year what they were last year, so I figured a Black Saturday couldn’t hurt,” laughed Parazoo.

   For other businesses, such as Coffee and Books in the Downtown Center building, the holidays have broken the revenue dry spell.

   “We had a couple of really slow months earlier this year,” said owner Lisa Shinn, whose business employs three part-time workers. “Now people seem to be getting serious about Christmas shopping, so it looks like we will finish slightly ahead of last year.”

   The National Retail Federation (NRF), the industry’s largest trade group, expects holiday sales across the country to decline one percent versus a 3.4 percent drop in holiday sales the previous year.

   For Tiane Shoemaker, owner of Reflections clothing and consignment boutique in Colville, sales may be down this holiday season, but she’s still ahead of many of her contemporaries.

   “I’d say I’m about 12 percent down in sales, same as I was last year,” said Shoemaker. “But that’s nothing compared to the general market for clothing stores. Some of them have been hit really hard, and I haven’t.”

   Shoemaker is trying to lure customers through the door by bringing in more inventory of unique clothing and accessories, and by randomly bequeathing gift sets to shoppers. 

   “Last year we did just fine until we got that huge amount of snow,” Shoemaker recalled. “Then lots of people were shopping on the internet, because no one even wanted to drive around the block.”

When too much snow can be a good thing

   It was last year’s snowfall that helped Kitchen Korner, according to owner Brian Wear.

   “Last holiday season we did really well because of the weather,” Wear said. “More people were shopping close to home so they didn’t have to drive too far.”

   Wear added that Kitchen Korner’s biggest sellers for Christmas include cookie cutters, knife sets and coffee presses.

   “It’s been encouraging so far,” Wear said of holiday revenue. “I think people are starting their shopping a bit earlier this year.”

   Recession scares have yet to creep in on The Pawn Shop, owned and operated by Chris Cairns of Colville. The Pawn Shop has been in business since the early 80’s and has weathered hard times before.

   “There always seems to be a recession on in this area, so we’re not really worried. We see more people in December, but our holiday revenue pretty much stays the same,” said Cairns. “We have to be more selective this time of year, because we have more people trying to pawn heavily used, bottom-of-the barrel type items, but that’s mostly young people who don’t have a lot to pawn off in the first place.”

   The most popular items on sale at the shop this time of year are video games, gaming systems and DVDs.

   “I had a lady come in here the other day who I bought an item off of for $50, then she turned around and spent $58 on DVDs,” said Cairns. “At first, I was puzzled by that, then she said that she was giving them all away as Christmas gifts. So only $58 for all your Christmas shopping works pretty well.”

   One thing that all the entrepreneurs interviewed for this story agreed on was that the holiday season for revenue will show its true colors the two weeks prior to Christmas.

   “That’s when people remember that oh yes, Christmas is coming and they still have shopping to do,” Shinn said. “Until then, I’m reminded that shoppers have a lot of choices, and I’m thankful whenever they decide to shop at my business. I think any store owner would agree with me on that.”