Local is the word for holiday shoppers
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By Peter Hirschfeld Staff Writer - Published: December 23, 2007
Central Vermont gift-givers aren't letting the high price of fuel or weakening economy play Grinch this year, according to local shop owners enjoying customarily brisk December sales.
Receipts from this crucial run-up to Christmas have yet to be tallied, but anecdotally at least, the harsh weather and the economic downturn aren't hampering holiday sales.
"I think a lot of people expected it to be really bad and it hasn't been really bad at all," says Sandy Thurston, owner of Exile on Main Street in Barre.
Thurston said sales of Josh Groban's Christmas album, "Noel," along with older favorites including Bruce Springsteen and Levon Helm, have driven a decent holiday season.
"I'd say at this point we're running about even with last year," Thurston says. "We kind of expected to be down a little and I wouldn't have been disappointed at that just because the economy is so bad. But it really is looking all right."
In Montpelier, where heavy snows all but shuttered the city on a couple of key weekend shopping days, consumers seem to be persevering. Kevin Brown at Buch Spieler on Langdon Street said sales of Vermont artists have buoyed the register.
"Right now the big ones for Vermont artists are Lewis Franco and the Missing Cats and Dave Keller. And of course Grace Potter," Brown said.
Brown said shop-local promotions on television and radio are paying dividends in Montpelier, where shoppers have been supporting local, independent merchants and by purchasing home-grown products. "I think on some level all the attention being given to buying local is affecting everybody. It's an idea that's mainstream now instead of a radical idea," Brown said. "All in all it seems like a nice healthy Christmas season. Not a record-breaking year, but I don't think anyone expected that."
At Studio Place Arts in Barre, which sells Vermont works almost exclusively, paintings and decorative pottery have ruled the register.
"People are kind of indulging in something special for their homes," said SPA executive director Sue Higby.
She said the buy-local message is resonating in Barre, as well.
"You can't help but think what you're doing here in central Vermont will have a positive effect on local families," Higby says. "When you buy locally from an artist in Vermont, you're buying into a very small-scale business operation that has a strong environmentally friendly element to it."
In the bookstores, Archer Mayer, Sue Grafton and Rusty DeWeese have emerged as among the more popular authors among gift-givers. Both DeWeese ("Scrawlins") and Mayer ("Chat," the latest in the Joe Gunther series), are Vermont writers.
"It's coming along to be what I would describe as a normal Christmas season," says Bob Van Arsdell, owner of Barre Books.
Claire Benedict, co-owner of Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, says last weekend's snowstorm set back store traffic temporarily but that the store was packed this week.
"Weather definitely was a problem last weekend … but people are back now shopping, and the store is full," Benedict says. "It seems really good. It's not true that people don't read anymore apparently."
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