With the Black Friday craziness out of the way, Whatcom County retailers can now focus on the rest of the holiday shopping season, which many are optimistic about.
The past three holiday seasons have had an air of uncertainty to them, with shoppers adjusting their spending habits depending on what was happening in the economy. The national economy continues to be filled with uncertainty, but local customers appear a bit more enthusiastic when it comes to shopping for gifts.
"This positive attitude I've been seeing from customers has me feeling better about the upcoming season," said Noel Lemke, owner of Sportsman Chalet in Bellingham. "We've seen some early gift shopping; when you have a challenged economy, people tend to wait."
At this time of year Lemke said the sporting goods store is also tied to what's happening up at Mt. Baker Ski Area, and the early dumping of snow is probably a factor in the cheerfulness of some customers.
Other retailers also are noticing some early gift-shopping taking place. Both Village Books and Paper Dreams in Fairhaven have had a strong November, while business at the new Village Books store in Bellis Fair started picking up in the days leading to Black Friday, said co-owner Chuck Robinson.
Over the years Robinson has noticed that solid sales heading into the holiday season bode well for December. He's noticed that book enthusiasts who buy the gifts early on tend to come back and do some shopping for themselves later in the season. The early start is also good insurance for the store if Whatcom County gets blasted with a winter storm in December.
Activity at the new holiday store in Bellis Fair started off a little slow in early October but recently picked up. They've noticed a higher ratio of sales in young adult and children's books at the mall store compared to the Fairhaven store.
While the idea of shopping local and visiting small businesses is regularly on the minds of many Whatcom County shoppers, some retailers are noticing it more this year. Both Barb Scroggins of Find Your Fashion in Ferndale and Michelle Millar of Mi Shoes in Bellingham have noticed an increase in the number of discussions among customers, whether it's about Occupy Wall Street, the Buy Local movement or Small Business Saturday, which took place Nov. 26.
"I had a customer approach about Small Business Saturday a few weeks ago, and since then I've been hearing more conversations about it," Scroggins said. "Buying local is on people's minds."
Millar said she also has had a good November in terms of store sales, and has ordered with the expectation of a good season. For a shoe store, it can be a challenge for customers to buy shoes at gifts, so she's been offering $20 gift certificates for those who buy boots for themselves.
"The last few years it's been hard to predict what will happen for the holidays, but I feel good heading into this season," Millar said.
OTHER TIDBITS
• Café Caffe at 3908 Meridian St. has closed, but the company is continuing its catering operations, which was a bigger part of the business, said owner Richard May. For more information about its catering services, call 360-647-0686 or visit cafecaffe.net.
• A building permit was filed at the city of Bellingham to convert the former Three Trees Coffeehouse space at 118 W. Holly St. (near Banditos) into a bar called Tubbs Tavern. On Tubbs' state liquor license application, the applicants are Jessika Bowman, David Campbell and Samantha Campbell.
• A building permit was filed to put in a new hair salon in Meridian Village (near Marshalls) called Zorganics.
• A couple of Bellingham restaurants are celebrating anniversaries this week: Black Pearl is celebrating its one-year anniversary of opening its downtown restaurant on Dec. 1-3 with a free dessert with any meal order. The offer is good for both its downtown and Barkley locations. Charles Claassen is celebrating his one year anniversary as owner of the Book Fare Café (on the mezzanine level of Village Books) 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. The celebration includes meal specials, a free slice of cake with every purchase and a raffle for a $20 gift certificate.
• According to its Facebook page, Redlight is planning for a grand opening celebration on New Year's Eve. The wine bar, which also features food, art and its own coffee, is going into the former Ridge Wine Bar space at 1017 N. State St.
