Holiday shoppers scurry downtown, retailers optimistic

(Sentinel photo by Amy Erickson) Sally Bowden, left, and mom, Kathleen Kautzky, of Ankeny, shop in Close To Home in downtown Le Mars Saturday. The women, along with Bowden's son Ryan, were taking advantage of holiday sales. They had come to town to visit family for Thanksgiving. [Click to enlarge]

Christmas music played as people swarmed downtown Le Mars stores this past weekend making retailers hopeful for a positive holiday shopping season.

"Our weekend went very, very well," said Robin Grosenheider, owner of Hotopp Jewelry & Gifts. "I was pleasantly pleased."

Although they didn't have official numbers, Sunday afternoon many downtown retailers said they thought weekend sales were up from a year ago.

"Hopefully it's a sign of what's going to happen the rest of the season," said Barb Walter, owner of Close To Home.

Sunday was the first day downtown stores were open Sunday holiday hours, noon to 4 p.m. through Christmas.

Julie Ehlers, manager at Joba's, said an increase in store sales there could have been a reflection of a 6 a.m. opening Black Friday and an expansion of merchandise due to the closing of Radio Shack.

"We had people waiting to get in (Friday)," Ehlers said. "I think opening early really had a lot of people buying in here from 6 to 7."

Sales throughout the weekend came from a steady stream of shoppers -- some locals and others from out of town, visiting relatives for Thanksgiving.

One was Sally Bowden, of Ankeny, who was shopping at Close To Home Saturday with her mom and son.

"It's always fun to see what another town has compared to what we have," Bowden said. "You have more Nebraska things here and my husband is a Nebraska fan."

Other people like Jennifer Lucas, of Sergeant Bluff, grew up in Le Mars and stopped at one of her favorite stores, Close To Home, before meeting up with family Saturday.

"It's nice to have local stores, to have the convenience of shopping in your hometown," Lucas said. "It's such a great store, lots of unique things."

It wasn't just sales on merchandise that brought shoppers into the stores this past weekend, but also a chance to win three $500 Holiday Shopping Sprees through the Parade of Prizes.

Shoppers received a card with participating Le Mars Chamber of Commerce businesses' names on it. They had to get the card stamped at 10 of those stores for a chance to win.

As she shopped Saturday, Mary Kay Dreckman, of Le Mars, said the Parade of Prizes initiated her downtown shopping trip.

"While I'm at my favorite stores, I'm looking for Christmas gift ideas," Dreckman said. "We try to use the downtown before we go out of town."

Store owners like Terry Claussen, owner of Claussen's, think there is a renewed interest in people shopping locally.

"Like I've always said, people would be surprised how much they can find in their town. All they have to do is look," Claussen said. "I think they sense there's an awareness 'we want to keep our downtowns viable and good.'"

Claussen's predictions for the holiday shopping season, after brisk weekend traffic and a fairly good local economy, are healthy.

"I'm always cautiously optimistic," Claussen said. "I look for a pretty decent year."