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FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Business is always down for retailers after a sales uptick during Christmas season.
Total Christmas spending was expected to exceed $1 trillion nationwide for the first time ever, up about 2.5% from last year. However, nationwide retail sales dropped almost 20% from December to January last year, followed by another small drop in February, both according to the National Retail Federation.
So how do small, locally owned retailers stay relevant in the winter months? We talked with a few owners in both Appleton and Oshkosh to find out.
Shelley Nystrom, Owner of Eco Candle Co. in Appleton: “We actually do really well for the first part of January too, and then we’ll tend to put things on sale, some of our holiday scents. And that will drive another group of people in.”
Eco Candle Co. earns 30% to 40% of its yearly sales in the fourth quarter of the year, according to Nystrom. It also sells wholesale to about 700 retailers, which keeps business steady while in-store sales slow.
Linda Schrage, Owner of Mud and Prints in Appleton: “January and February are usually our quietest times as far as production, and so it’s a little bit more getting creative with family outings or kids or moms, things like that.”
Kara Manuel, Owner of Lillians of Appleton: “Well, we’re already getting spring in, believe it or not. So we’re trying to get new things in to keep them motivated and coming back in. And of course, we’re going to have special sales for the after-Christmas sales to help those people find those things that maybe they didn’t find before Christmas.”
Adam Bartlett, Owner of Eroding Winds Record Shop: “So post-Christmas we’re lucky. We sell a lot of gift certificates ahead of Christmas time, so post-Christmas is pretty busy for us without having to do much more work… Winter is one of our busier times of the year, because everyone’s stuck inside. They want new records to listen to, they want to enrich their environment, so they’re always looking to expand their collections during the colder months anyway.”
Scott Dercks, Owner of House of Heroes: “We run a sale. During the year we basically only have three sales, and one of them is the day after Christmas. I think we started it like 20 years ago. So that’s it, pretty much our second biggest day of the year generally (in terms of sales).”
Sonia Ochowicz, Manager at The Turquoise Door: “We [offer] different punch cards, different sale promotions. We definitely try to tag team other businesses. And let’s say, if they spend a certain amount there, they get a certain percentage here, vice versa.”
A few other factors:
- Winter weather impacts business significantly, especially in walkable downtown areas
- Farmers markets draw customers in over the summer and early fall, providing a boost
- Businesses have different results in different seasons (e.g. the record store doing better while people are inside at home over the winter)
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