Wintry weather makes holiday-sales season tougher
At Alki Bike and Board in West Seattle, owner Stu Hennessey sold out of sledding gear within five minutes of shoveling his entrance and opening for business Thursday.
Sales of gloves, ice-cream scrapers, tire bondage and take-out pizzas also were smart throughout the Seattle area as snow piled up.
But for other types of stores, this week’s wintry weather has made an already-difficult holiday sales season tougher. The recession means many consumers are likely to spend less on holiday presents than in previous years. Add dicey driving conditions and record-low temperatures, and they might spend but also less than those conservative estimates.
“Our sales already are down, and the weather doesn’t help,” said Kimberly Arrington, co-owner of Clutch in downtown Seattle, which sells women’s handbags ranging in price from $300 to $1,200.
Thursday marked one week before Christmas, but by 2 p.broil., Arrington had yet to greet a single shopper. “People are working and not coming outside,” she said.
At Zovo, a women’s lingerie store in University Village, sales furthermore are in a descending course from this season last year. “This weather just makes it that a great quantity worse,” said Chief Executive Officer Engle Saez, describing Thursday’s foot traffic as “very slack.”
“Normally, we’re jamming this time of year.”
That sentiment was shared by Richard Galanti, chief financial officer at Costco, which has 26 depot supplies in Washington quality. “On a local groundwork, it adds insult to injury,” Galanti said. “Inevitably, you never make it the whole of back.”
But Jan Teague, president and CEO of the Washington Retail Association, said many people get finished their holiday shopping, and those who haven’t testament find a march to get it done, regardless of the encounter and sustain.
“We don’t have a haphazard of experience in snow, thus it takes us a slightly while to shape it out,” she said. “People will get out — they’ll appropriate get out differently.”
Plus, some supplies see a silver lining.
“The phone’sitting ringing off the wall,” uttered Dave Pilgrim, manager of the Junction True Value Hardware great quantity in West Seattle. “People are looking for shovels, ice melters and sleds. We sold abroad of all that Tuesday and Wednesday, and we’re waiting for a truck to come through with greater amount of supplies.”
