Local retailers had ‘excellent’ shopping season

• Christmas sales

Kari Lucin/ Daily Globe With the help of sales associate Anna Robinson (right), Mindi Soukup of Sioux Falls, S.D. makes purchases at Main Street Kids & County Stork Saturday in downtown Worthington for her 3-week-old baby, Kia.

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WORTHINGTON — Despite the nation-wide economic downturn, local retailers reported an excellent shopping season leading up to Christmas in southwest Minnesota. And despite concerns over dying downtowns in rural areas, stores in downtown Worthington also thrived during the busy holiday shopping months.

“We had strong retail sales through the month of December,” said Pam Handevidt, co-owner of Center Sports in downtown Worthington.

Buyers seemed to purchase as much as they had in previous years at Center Sports, but their habits did change in other ways, Handevidt said. People shopped earlier this year, and Handevidt also noticed that they were far more likely to use credit cards than they had been in prior years.

Lit’l Wizards, another downtown Worthington retailer that specializes in children’s toys, games, books and educational material, also reported sales growth from prior years.

“This is only our third year (in business), but I felt like sales were pretty strong this year,” said Maria Thier, owner of Lit’l Wizards.

Thier also noticed a change in buying habits for many of her customers — although they spent about as much money as they had spent during the economic boom times, they spent it on multiple smaller items rather than large purchases.

Neither Lit’l Wizards nor Center Sports did anything unusual to entice buyers into their stores, instead relying on the basic coupons and holiday discounts they had offered in previous years.

Thier speculated that the high gas prices may have worked in favor of local businesses, encouraging people to shop locally rather than driving long distances for gifts. She also suggested that her business becoming better known and the good weather — apart from the blizzard that blasted the area the weekend of Dec. 20 — may have played a part in the positive sales for the season.

Main Street Kids & Country Stork also posted excellent holiday sales, reported its owner, Deb Vander Kooi.

Vander Kooi kept to her usual Christmas tactics as well, continuing efforts to stock a wide variety of children’s clothing and toys in terms of selection and price.

“We have a lot of people (for whom) we’re a part of their holiday tradition. When they come back home (for Christmas) this is one of the stops they make,” Vander Kooi explained.

She also suggested people in southwest Minnesota are already used to economic ups and downs, and noted that the farm economy is still very good.

Sales were also good in at least some of the shops outside the downtown area.

“We’re doing great!” said Wendy Huls, manager of Christopher & Banks in the Northland Mall. “The excellent promotions we run keep them coming back.”

Tags: news, worthington, economy, shopping