St. Albert businesses say they had a better holiday shopping season than last year, although some downtown businesses are still seeing the COVID-19 shopping slump.
A new location of a local apparel store, The Seven80, had its first holiday shopping season at the St. Albert Centre. Erin Bogner, the manager of the store said that they felt shoppers were eager to get back to in-store shopping.
“I think that this year, people seem happy to be not online shopping,” Bogner said. “A lot of our customers seem happy to actually be in store. And we had a lot of people that were excited to support local.”
Gina Seaton, the manager of Suzanne’s in St. Albert Centre, said that it was busier than last year.
“It was a good Christmas. I think everybody did well and we've had a positive outcome. And hopefully we'll continue to have this sort of season in the years to come.”
Kelsey Bulmer, co-owner of the Cerulean Boutique, a women’s clothing store in downtown St. Albert, said sales haven’t quite returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“There was a little bit back towards some normalcy, however, we haven't felt it completely get back to what we considered normal.”
Bulmer said there are ongoing pressures from high inflation and more cautious consumer spending. But despite all that, there was an extra dose of Christmas spirit this year.
“I love the sparkle in so many people's eyes this year. And the fact that they got together with their family and their friends. It was just refreshing.”
Despite inflationary pressures, many Canadians planned to spend the same amount on holiday shopping this year, according to a study from the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA). The study said that Canadians expected to spend an average of $589 on gift-giving this year.
Boxing Day sales slower than previous years
Bogner and Seaton both told The Gazette that the Boxing Day craze is not the same as it has been in previous years.
“Boxing Day was very slow, actually,” Bogner said.
“I think that ever since Black Friday has been introduced here, Boxing Day is not as big. And I think that if people are out to get Boxing Day deals, they go to West Ed.”
According to the CPA survey, only 20 per cent of Canadians planned to shop Boxing Day sales in-store this year, compared to 37 per cent who planned to do online Black Friday sales.
Seaton said that Boxing Day was busy for the Suzanne’s store and St. Albert Centre, just “not compared to 25 years ago.”
“Because Boxing Day is now turned into Boxing Week, so it just makes it a little bit less hectic for people to try and get the deals in all in one day.”
In the 11 years that the Cerulean Boutique has been operating, Bulmer said they have never opened on Boxing Day. She explained that because St. Albert is a family community, the day should be spent with family.
“And if the hustle and the bustle of the Boxing Day has always been more geared towards big box items and big box stores,” Bulmer said. “And we just step outside and just take a day off and let everybody else play that game.”
Bulmer said that in general, consumers need to be mindful of shopping at small businesses outside of the sale season. Many small businesses don’t build in margins to discount and rely on selling items at full price to do well, she explained.
“I think I hear so many people beating their drum that ‘I shop small, I support local, I buy all my Christmas gifts local.’ But the truth of the matter is unless you buy at regular price, you're not actually supporting them to thrive and then be there next year.”
