News photo by Steve Schulwitz Anna Woods, an employee at Olivet Book and Gifts in downtown Alpena, will be organizing a Nativity at the store on Tuesday. Local small businesses rely on holiday shoppers to get them through the slow end of the year.
ALPENA — Small businesses around Northeast Michigan are welcoming the rush of holiday shoppers seen the weekend after Thanksgiving.
For most local businesses, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday today and Saturday will be key to revenue before the unproductive winter sets in.
Many local businesses consider the Christmas shopping and tourist season as their bread and butter, when cash registers are at their most active.
Whether the year-end sales season is strong or not can also be a determining factor in the profitability of small and medium-sized businesses during the fiscal year end.
Mary Rajasekhar, owner of Olivet Book and Gifts in downtown Alpena, said business started picking up in October and didn’t slow down until after Christmas.
Planning for the holiday shopping season begins well in advance, she said, with staff stocking the store, decorating the store and coming up with specials and deals.
“We 100% expect more people to be out and about and plan for these types of explosive sales all year long,” she said. “All of us downtown have been preparing to look forward to your friendly participation. The people of the Alpena community and beyond are really going out of their way to support our downtown businesses, especially during Christmas.” I think that’s a great recognition for our region.”
The Alpena Downtown Development Authority holds events in the weeks and months before Christmas to increase foot traffic to stores, restaurants and taverns. People flock to the store during several Halloween-themed events and tonight’s Alpena Holiday Parade.
Alpena DDA Executive Director Anne Gentry said ensuring business owners have a successful holiday shopping season is essential to success and sustainability.
“Christmas is just as important, if not more important, than summer tourism,” Gentry said. “That gives them a jolt going into January through May, when things slow down a lot. It’s good for businesses to have a nice boost like we’ve seen over the past month or so.”
Gentry said most downtown businesses accept Downtown Dollars issued by the DDA, which also helps grow their coffers.
Many times, we don’t know what to get our loved ones, so we purchase a Downtown Dollars gift certificate and let our loved one choose where and how to use it.
Gentry said Downtown Dollar is sold year-round, but most purchases are made around Christmas.
“More than 60 businesses are hosting people, from restaurants to auto repair shops to salons to shops,” Gentry said. “Gift cards make sure the money stays downtown, and it costs nothing for businesses to receive gift cards. We do about $20,000 in sales each year, and probably a quarter to a fifth… It’s due to the holiday season.
Gentry said downtown money trickles into local businesses throughout the year, which helps during economic downturns.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. X Follow him at @ss_alpenanews.com.
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