The holiday shopping season will formally kick off with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, November 28 and 29. Local business owners in Broken Bow hope shoppers will keep their purchases close to home over the weekend, and in the weeks ahead.
Scott Cyboron, owner of Geared 4 Sports, told KCNI/KBBN, “I’m hopeful that it will bring in a lot of sales during the holiday seasons. It’s been a tough year, but hopefully, you know, holiday season will help us immensely.”
Slow sales and scarcer foot traffic were a common theme among the retailers spoken to for this story.
Lola Chapin of Chapin’s Furniture noted customers often come in with a particular shopping objective in mind, rather than simply to browse.
“Summer’s been kind of interesting,” Chapin said. “We’ve had good sales, good people, customers, you know, it’s not a lot of foot traffic. So we’re anticipating and hopeful for a good Christmas.”
According to a release from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), 13% fewer small businesses reported higher sales over the past three months, down 6 points from September.
At the same time, sales for the holiday have not been keeping pace with expectations recently either.
“Black Friday is not what it used to be. You know, people used to get up at three o’clock in the morning and drive to Kearney to go to ShopKo, get the specials and then come home and shop here,” said Lola and Gene Chapin.
Ryan Anderson, who owns The Garden Center in Broken Bow agrees. “There’s definitely people out shopping that day, but not typically not like maybe it used to be,” he says.
There are a number of theories about what is causing a drop off in sales around what have traditionally been big business days. These range from the effect of big box stores in larger towns who are able to hold deeper sales, to the effect of a longer sales season and online shopping.
Gene Chapin pointed to the 5 or 6 pre-Black Friday sales that had popped on to his phone in one day as evidence of the extended shopping period.
Still, smaller retail destinations depend on the traffic they receive through the post-Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas season. The NFIB states that last year, shoppers spent an estimated $22 billion at locally owned businesses nationwide during Small Business Saturday, reminding shoppers that every purchase made on November 29th sends a powerful, localized investment directly into the heart of our community.
