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December 24, 2009

Mixed reviews from local stores

As last-minute shoppers head to stores, local retailers try to maintain

Jonathan Jackson

As Christmas arrives in Baldwin County, the steady rush of shoppers to retail stores in search of just the right gift for friends and family will pause. Families will gather to exchange gifts and share meals.

Determining how local retail businesses fared during the holidays may take some time to figure out, but smaller, family-owned institutions may have a more direct idea of how business was during a holiday season marked with economic recession.

Johnny Grant Jr. of J.C. Grant Co. said that he can tell business is off a little for the historic downtown jewelry and gift store.

“We’re a little lower than in years past, but not uncomfortably lower,” he said. “After a hundred years in downtown Milledgeville, we’ve become fairly well established to a few clients.”

Downtown Milledgeville merchants have taken part in a promotion with Milledgeville MainStreet inviting shoppers to break free from chains and shop at individual, locally owned enterprises in the downtown area this holiday season.

As gifts go, some shoppers have opted to make a major purchase for their loved ones.

Lin Towson with Earl’s Used Cars said that sales have fluctuated during the holiday season and he’s not sure if customers were buying cars for Christmas or not.

“It really has been up and down,” he said. “We’ll have a big week, then a quiet week. One week we sold five, the next we sold one, then we have three ready to go now.”

Another car dealership has cars ready for that big red bow, though. David Bullard with Childre Nissan said he saw something this year that he’s never seen in the car sales business.

“We’ve sold quite a few cars as Christmas gifts,” he said. “This is the first year in 25 years in the car business that I’ve seen five cars paid for to be delivered on Christmas.”

Bullard said the number of sales of new versus used cars is split.

On the whole, larger retailers lured shoppers out to their stores with special sales throughout the season, seeing a large push around Black Friday. Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving marks the day that the finances of retailers move out of the red and into the black.

The impact of the current economic conditions on the holiday shopping season remains to be clearly described. After the first of the year, businesses will have a clearer vision as to what holiday shopping means to the bottom line.

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