More Customers Take a Ride Downtown to Enjoy Christmas
COLLECTED BY CHINATUNGSTEN - DEC. 17, 2012 - KEARNEY— Business along Central Avenue is standing as tall as the 23-foot-high Christmas tree this season.
With 10 days left before Christmas, owners of six Central Avenue stores, selected at random, said business is equal to or up from last Christmas. That’s critical, because holiday sales account for between 20 percent and 40 percent of their business.
Wednesday, Zach Hemmer wandered into the ABC Drug Company at 2123 Central Ave. in search of a gift for his mother. He was taking a break from final exams at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he is a sophomore.
Inside the pharmacy’s gift area, he eyed crèches, ornaments and Nativity sets. Co-owner Tammy Hynes showed him earrings, too, but he hesitated, unsure what his mother would like,
Kathy Edwards, a sales clerk at ABC, watched Hemmer leave. “We’ll have a lot more men coming in the last week before Christmas. They don’t know what they want, so I’ll find out what the woman’s interest is – tea? Wine? Jewelry? We have free gift-wrapping, too. That’s a big thing.”
At Refind at 2219 Central Ave., owner Marcy DeJonge was hanging tags on some of the 200 to 500 items that come into her consignment store every day. “It’s been so busy we’ve had to hire three extra people. Even regular employees have increased their hours,” she said.
Business began climbing in early November, she said, and the week after Thanksgiving — the same week as the Nov. 29 Christmas Walk — was “fantastic.” A new promotion, a holiday open house in mid-November, also was a big success.
DeJonge, owner of Refind since September 2011, said one of the biggest sellers this season is the “delightfully tacky sweater.” She said some schools and businesses designate Fridays as tacky sweater day, “So every day, lots of people ask about them,” she said.
“We are consistently busy. It’s been a blessing. We have no storage space, so everything that comes in goes right onto the floor.”
At Solid Rock at 2010 Central Ave., owner Bill Ballou was engraving a name on a Bible as “Silent Night” played over the store’s sound system.
“So far this year we’re well above last year in post-Thanksgiving sales,” he said. “This time of year, we sell a whale of a lot of Bibles.”
One of his biggest sellers has been a just-published book, “Husker Legacy,” by Chad Bonham and Gordon Theissan, which is full of “faith lessons in Nebraska football,” Ballou said. He’d sold 100 copies in the past week.
Other popular gifts include serene nature pictures and religious-oriented plaques, he said. Often, adult children will go together to purchase a large picture for mom and dad. The pictures “sell for a couple hundred dollars,” he said.
At Look What’s Cookin,’ Mike Suchan, co-owner with his wife Judy, does 40 percent of his annual business in November and December, and 20 percent in the two weeks before Christmas.
“These two weeks are so darn critical, but business has been up nine of the past 11 months, so the whole year looks good,” he said “Every year, I advertise earlier, but it doesn’t work. People come in when they come in.”
One customer purchased four, $750 sets of pots and pans (six pans with four lids) manufactured by All-Clad Metalcrafters Inc. Others buy, without blinking, a 14-inch $179 frying pan with a lifetime guarantee.
New on Central Avenue this season is TM Sporting Goods at 2217 Central Avenue. It opened just four weeks ago, but manager Steve Verraneault said business has been brisk.
The store is owned by Tino Martinez of Grand Island, who also owns TM Sporting Goods store in that city.
“We haven’t had a sporting goods store downtown for near a year, so this was good,” Verraneault said. “I’ve been selling sporting goods in Kearney for 35 years, so I know a lot of people. People were in here for the Christmas Walk and they’re delighted we’re here.”
Christmas is the highlight of the year at Hawthorne Jewelers at 2104 Central Avenue. There’s even a chocolate diamond ring in the window.
“Our biggest seller is always diamonds,” said Erika Godfrey, who owns the store with her father Aub Kendle. Founded 134 years ago, it’s the oldest business in Kearney. The Kendle family has owned it for nearly 70 years.
“Diamonds are such a tradition,” Godfrey said, and new this year are diamonds in red, blue, green and other colors.
“Diamonds look good, no matter what you have on. You can put them on with jeans and a T-shirts or a little black dress,” she said.
Since gold is expensive right now, she said customers are buying jewelry made from sterling silver, stainless steel, and tungsten carbide and cobalt chrome. Men are buying rings, bracelets and leather texture bracelets for themselves, she added.
People begin shopping for Christmas in October and November, which is a plus because “we need time to make the jewelry,” Godfrey said. Her staff includes her brother Steen Kendle, a certified bench jewelry technician, and three sales associates.
“My job is so much fun,” said the ebullient Godfrey. “I don’t sell anything anyone needs. I sell people their personal preferences. This is a busy time, especially with engagements. We’ve even had proposals here. Christmas is such a special time of year.”
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