Retailers prepare for holiday season

Oct 14, 2015 at 03:55 am by Observer-Review


Retailers prepare for holiday season ADVERTISEMENT

Retailers prepare for holiday season

FINGER LAKES--The holiday season seemingly comes earlier and earlier each year. With popular shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, some stores are already looking forward even though Halloween and Thanksgiving are yet to be celebrated. But just how early do area retailers begin preparing for the holiday season?
Longs' Cards and Books in Penn Yan is one place where shoppers can already see signs of the winter holidays. Owner Jim Long said his store starts preparing for the holidays in the spring, adding the Christmas cards and ornaments are already on display. He said his back room is loaded with holiday merchandise, noting summer residents will often stop in and purchase things like books or wrapping paper before leaving the area.
Long mentioned he usually will hire one additional employee for the holidays, adding anywhere from 50 to 60 more work hours each week. He noted December is the best month of the year for book sales, adding he will often have to try to predict well in advance what the most popular holiday items are going to be for the coming season.
"There are a couple things each year that are going to be hot, but you never really know what it is going to be," Long said.
Pinckney's Hardware will generally start to prepare for the holidays in mid-November from Black Friday onward. Owner Jack Payne said they will normally get extra stock in and make sure they have what customers need, adding they will usually be busy right up to Christmas eve.
Payne said they have to put in their holiday orders in July, adding the most popular items are usually power tools and small household appliances. He too said it is difficult to predict what the demand is going to be, but mentioned Ace Hardware is usually pretty good for back stock to make sure if they run out of an item, they can get more. While they do not add any more staff during the season, their staff hours will usually increase between 16 and 20 hours a week during this time.
"The hardware business in general is a lot of necessity things," Payne said. "The luxury part might suffer, but when things break, you have got to fix them."
Water Street Pharmacy in Dundee is one of the stores that tries to resist the temptation to bypass the October and November holidays in favor of December. Owner Tracey Knapp said she does not want people to forget about Halloween and Thanksgiving, so they begin to slowly change over the store throughout the fall and winter. However, she said the most difficult aspect of dealing with the holiday rush is having to order her merchandise from vendors nearly a year ahead of time in January.
"We go right from one holiday season into the next," Knapp said.
Knapp mentioned while her pharmacy business has stayed constant throughout the last few years, she noted the popularity of gift items at her store has been slowly decreasing during the same time frame. She attributed this to the economy, adding people tend to purchase more when things are better.
Country Belles Funky Junk and Fashion in Dundee will be undergoing their first holiday season, having opened earlier this year. However, owner Lisa Rosario said they are not going to rush into the Christmas holiday, adding they are still working with their autumn items at the store.
"We are old-fashioned," Rosario said. "We like to wait."
She said she has no idea how things will go in her first year, but added she has had high hopes, as many of her customers have informed her they plan to return for Christmas shopping. Rosario added it is her favorite time of the year and she will be redoing the front window display with holiday decorations for the season. She anticipates popular items will include ornaments, decorations, jewelry, clothing and other accessories. Rosario also mentioned she will have a wish book for customers, where people can put down what they would like, so other family members who come in the store can look and see what to get that person for the holidays.
Famous Brands owner Jim Guild in Watkins Glen said the store currently has a lot of products coming in now. He said while they do not usually have a lot of holiday-specific merchandise, he added brands like North Face, Columbia and Ugg boots are big items for Christmas.
"We are not into putting out decorations before Halloween," Guild said. "We usually do that the week before Black Friday."
He said December is still the store's biggest month, but noted October is creeping up. Guild mentioned November used to be the second biggest month, but now it is October. He noted the store will usually add four new part-timers for the holiday rush, adding an extra 80 hours per week in staff hours.
Guild said the store has to order their merchandise nine months in advance of the holiday shopping season, ordering in January and having it come in the following September. He added it is hard to predict what the most popular items are going to be when they have to place the orders. However, this year Guild said he is anticipating a few particular items to be popular for this winter.
"I would say the North Face outerwear, there is a new jacket called the Thermoball, and that is going to be the hottest jacket in years," Guild said. "North Face used to have a thing called the Denali, and that was probably the hottest thing for eight or 10 years. Also Ugg has some hot new styles this year too, and they are our two big hot items for the holidays anyway."
Wal-Mart in Watkins Glen is another area retailer who is already preparing for the holiday season. Store Manager Terra Ellis said the retailer will normally have to begin ordering their products for the holiday season during the summer in the month of July.
Ellis said some of the ways they start preparing for the holiday season include planning for staffing and what the key merchandise categories are going to be. She noted in order to accommodate the holiday rush, Wal-Mart will usually hire between 25 and 40 people, although she added this number usually varies. Ellis also mentioned they have to address how they are going to plan for the big shopping events throughout the buildup to the holidays.
Ellis said one of the more difficult things she tries to focus on is making sure the store is meeting consumer needs throughout the season. She added things tend to change, noting the holiday season tends to come earlier and earlier each year. Ellis said she anticipates a good holiday season this year and is hopeful they will be able to fulfill the needs of their customers.
Bill Phoenix, owner of Watkins Sporting Goods, said he does not usually begin preparing for the holidays until December. He said his business has been pretty steady during the past few years, adding there is a slight uptick in sales during the holidays.
Phoenix said he prepares for the holidays by making sure he is stocked in key items. He noted the most popular items tend to be scholastic sportswear for the area schools, including T-shirts, sweats, crews and hoodies. He also tends to see customers buying a lot of Major League Baseball and National Football League merchandise during the holidays, as well as some National Hockey League items.

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