Business & Tech

Village Merchants Pin Hopes on Holiday Sales

Business owners in historic downtown see mixed results in early sales returns.

Glendora's Holiday Stroll kicked off the holiday shopping season with droves of people packed in its Village Shopping District.

But as the shopping season progresses, foot traffic through the Village remains light, leading some in the city to worry about the pace of holiday sales amid a tepid economic recovery.

Deborah Gould, owner of , 125 N Glendora Ave., said sales in her bookstore are at a crawl this holiday season.

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"In fact, at this point it's worse than last year," Gould said

The historic Village center, located on North Glendora Avenue between Foothill and Bennett streets, is a tree-lined downtown full of independent businesses and shops, many of them fixtures in the Village for generations. There's , 133 1/2 N Glendora Ave, a candy shop that has called Glendora Avenue home for over 40 years.  Men's clothing store 111 North Glendora Ave., opened its doors in 1972.

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While the nation's recession has closed decades-old mom and pop businesses across the country, Glendora's Village business owners have struggled to keep their doors open.

Economists claim the worst of the recession is over and Village business owners hope to see major improvement over last year's poor holiday sales numbers.

The Business Improvement District, an advisory board of district business owners, organized the Holiday Stroll on Nov. 19 to showcase downtown businesses and signal the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Other events are organized throughout the year in an effort to attract people to the Village, including the annual .

Although attendance at the Holiday Stroll was projected to be "in the thousands," business owners are waiting to see if this year's holiday season sales will fare any better than last year's.

Gary Andrews, owner of Andrew's Inc. and chairman of the BID, called last year's holiday sales returns "very soft."

"The holiday season is the most important time of year for any business. We're no different than any other economic entity in this current economic condition. It's been a struggle," said Andrews. "These last couple of years is probably the most difficult time I've ever experienced as a business owner."

Still, Andrews remains hopeful.

"We're seeing a little progress," said Andrews, noting a small percentage increase in his store's sales so far compared to last year.

 "As with every year we hope for a positive holiday season," said Andrews. "Will it be like last year's?  We're hoping better."

But even minor improvements are not the case with all business owners in the district.

Gould, the Village Books Shop owner, has struggled to recover from a nearly 50 percent decrease in sales two years ago.

For Gould, community patronage has dwindled as big box retail continues to grow in the area.

"The school district stopped buying books from me," said Gould. "Now students buy their own reading books from Barnes and Noble or Borders. "

Josh Betta, finance director and city treasurer, said the city is looking at an overall 2.7 percent increase in sales tax revenue over last year, a figure he said is positive with a number of caveats.

"It's good, but we're not exactly jumping for joy," Betta said, noting millions of dollars were lost as the sales tax collected by the city decreased by 21 percent over the last four years.

As the financial trend points to steady, but slow progress, Betta said the economy's main obstacle is "consumer confidence."

"Consumer confidence, the driver of the economy, is really lacking," Betta said. "What we're seeing is better, but we're not making plans to spend more. "

As businesses overall are seeing timid sales returns, Betta noted a larger challenge for independent business owners in the Village. 

"The district deserves a lot more foot traffic than it gets, but they're largely niche businesses and that's a challenge," Betta said. "People say they love having the Village in their community, but it's really up to them to make the decision to support their small businesses."

Do you shop in Glendora's Village Shopping District? 


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