Business owners comment on Christmas shopping season

The Christmas shopping season turned out well for many Thermopolis stores, according to some small business owners. 

Loyal local customer support is strong and out-of-town shoppers are showing up as well. Business owners comments on the holiday shopping season are encouraging. 

Howie Samelson, of Discover Thermopolis, said “We had a strong Christmas with lots of hot sauces sold. There was good interest in all the changes we’ve made, hard to quantify. But lots of crafts stuff, across the board gift giving, everything seems to fall just right in all areas, they seem to sell very nicely.”

At Thermopolis Hardware, Karen Sinclair described business as good too. Sinclair said “We had a good holiday, people were making a concerted effort to support local businesses. Many shopped locally although Amazon’s influence is out there. But it was a good season.” 

Sinclair added her praises for the overall community, “We’ve had a positive good year with some new businesses and the new Gottsche building.”

Nature’s Corner owner Sarah Ferrell said she can’t complain. Her “Black Friday” was actually the Saturday before Christmas with many last-minute people shopping. The hot-selling items were gifts, candles, jewelry, lotions, soaps, etc. 

“There was lots of out-of-town traffic, but local shoppers were just as great,” said Ferrell.

Ellen Reed of the Storyteller said business has been up. “We’ve seen a lot of increase,” she said. Her records showed an increase of 10% compared to last year. Reed added that since Shopko closed down there were more sales in the toy section and greeting cards.  

Reed said they have seen more out-of-town shoppers than locals, specifically from Riverton and Lander. She said she felt the reason for this is because her store is unique and customers like to talk to people, disliking self-checkouts at large department stores.

Cindy Denton of the White Horse Country Store said she noticed an increase in people shopping from out of town. When comparing this year’s business to the previous season she described it as similar. “It was pretty even and good,” said Denton.  

Gooseberry Garden Quilt Shop’s owner Susan Turnbull said her business picked up over the holiday season.