Business & Tech
Holiday Shopping Season Off to Optimistic Start in Birmingham
The city hopes to keep the holiday shopping momentum going with its advertising campaign, featuring three television commercials to air on WXYZ.
Whether you spent the holidays in Birmingham, Metro Detroit or elsewhere across the country, it was a busy weekend for holiday shopping.
According to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey conducted by BIGresearch, 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites Thursday through Saturday last week, a record up from last year's 212 million shoppers.
In addition, the NRF reports that the average shopper spent $398.62 during the holiday weekend, up from $365.34 last year. Total spending reached an estmated $52.4 billion.
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In Birmingham, John Heiney, executive director of Birmingham's (PSD), said the mood was upbeat and optimistic among shoppers and local merchants.
"It seems like the last couple of years, you had to apologize for shopping," Heiney said. "But now, store owners are saying customers are happy to be in the stores."
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Though Heiney said the PSD doesn't have any figures from the combined Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales, Birmingham merchants reported the weekend was a great kickoff for the holiday shopping season.
"I can't remember ever being so busy in the past four years, which was great," said co-owner Karen Daskas.
Jennifer Green from the newly opened Spice & Tea Exchange on Maple agreed.
"We just opened this weekend, and it's been great," she said Saturday. "We've had a lot of foot traffic down here, and it has just been wonderful."
Still, the struggling economy had a presence this weekend, even at the home decor retailer .
"I think there might still be a little hesitation because of the economy," owner Stacey Leuliette said. "It's been gloomy for a while, but some people are tired of hearing bad news and negativity and just ready to move on, while others are still holding onto their purse strings."
But Heiney said the PSD is optimistic about the foot traffic already and is forging ahead with its own advertising campaign.
In fact, this is the second year the PSD will be running television commercials, with three different commercials appearing on WXYZ through Christmas. Fourteen Birmingham merchants sponsor the ad, though Heiney said the message is primarily "shop Birmingham."
In addition, the PSD has several events planned to draw community members and shoppers downtown this holiday season, including the Dec. 2-4 and the on Dec. 10 and 17.
Kristen Skladd contributed to this report.
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