Some Capitol Hill businesses on Broadway are doing all right this holiday-shopping season, but others aren't, per a random sampling of local merchants Dec. 16.
With only eight days of shopping left before Christmas (dating from last Friday), even some of the stores doing well weren't racking up sales the way they used to several years ago, owners and staffers say.
However, over at Bailey/Coy Books, business is doing well, said bookseller Polly Jirkovsky. "It's definitely one of our busiest times," she said of the holidays.
"There's a lot of good stuff out right now, and people are pretty excited," Jirkovsky said of the reissued Narnia series and a new Kurt Vonnegut book, for example. Customers are buying books for all their friends and family," she added.
But in a show of support for independents, Jirkovsky said some customers have told her they've spotted books they wanted in chain outfits, but came to Bailey/Coy to buy them. "That's really nice to hear," she smiled.
Sales volumes haven't changed much from the last holiday shopping season, though. "It feels fairly comparable," Jirkovsky said.
Jason Swazer, executive chef at Dilettante Chocolates on Broadway, said business seems to have picked up this year from what it was last season. But candy, including Santa Clauses made of dark and white chocolate at the store, are always holiday favorites, he said.
Even the café in the store picks up during the holiday season, said Swazer, who estimated that Christmastime sales at the company's six locations brings in 35 to 40 percent of yearly revenue for the business.
Victoria Cabrera, a staff member at Grüv, said sales of new and used CDs and movies at the business have stayed fairly steady all year. "But there's definitely more people during the holiday season," she said.
"We've been selling more new than used," added James Rolland, who described his position at the store as "helper monkey." And movies are outselling music, he added.
"They're safer, I think," Cabera said of movies as gifts. "People are more picky about music than movies." But whether it's music or movies, sales seem to have fallen a bit from what they were last season, she said. "It definitely seems mellower this year."
Manager Melissa Wdowiak said sales are up in general this holiday season at Urban Outfitters. "It's mainly parents shopping for their kids right now," she said.
But getting an accurate reading of business this year compared with last year at the chain's Capitol Hill location is impossible because the store completed a major expansion in November, Wdowiak said.
However, in what might be a telling factor, she said the store has hired extra seasonal help this year.
Over at Panache, where there was a 50-percent-off-sale sign in front of the boutique, sales are down from what they were last year around this time, said manager Linda Medeiros. "It think it's the traffic flow here," she said of one reason for the decline. "To me, it's more of a college street now."
But Medeiros also felt compelled to run a sale because most of the stores in shopping malls are doing the same, she said. "We're not going to wait until after Christmas."
Still, the store's biggest days for business are the day after Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving, she said. "It used to be Halloween, but not any more."
The Broadway Boutique is holding sales both before and after Christmas this year, said clerk Hanna Sim. But the store generally does more business than usual during the holidays, she said. "We're always busy, but especially during the holidays we get busy."
Customers were already starting to do their holiday shopping at the store by last Friday, but Sim was expecting the shopping frenzy to really kick in at the store on Dec. 20. "That's when it really hits," she said.
Pete Evans, manager at PC Club Computers, said ads for a sale at that store had just appeared in the papers last Friday. "But the weekend should be pretty busy," he said, adding that December is generally busier than normal to begin with.
Evans wasn't sure about exact sales figures, but he didn't think there was much difference this season compared with last year. "It's about the same right now."
Roger Harkis at the India Exports store said his sales are helped this time of year because people are in a happy mood. "I've made a lot of new friends," he added.
He estimates his holiday sales are up 11 percent from what they were last year. Harkis attributes that to attention to detail. "Capitol Hill people are picky," he explained. "You've got to know your market. It's hard work."
Business has also picked up lately at the Castle Megastore, which sells all things erotic, said clerk Tito Vazquez. The place does a booming business around Valentines Day for obvious reasons, he said, but the holidays also keep the cash registers humming.
"Last year, it was a really busy," Vazquez said. "I think we had some of the biggest sales during the holiday season." He was expecting this year to be about the same as last year in terms of sales that put a whole new holiday spin on naughty and nice qualifications.
Christmas isn't that busy at the Red Light vintage clothes store on Broadway, said manager Dave Baldwin. "People usually don't buy used clothes for people for Christmas," he noted.
"Halloween is basically our Christmas, definitely," Baldwin went on to say. But Christmas does have its points for the store. "We do a lot of outfitting for Christmas parties," he explained.
The Red Light has done better the last couple of months than it did around the same time last year, he said. But that can be explained, at least in part, but the fact that an additional 3,000 square feet of space was added to the store last April, he said.
"I'm having a pretty good Christmas," said Paul Dwoskin, owner of Broadway Video. Sales are up slightly this season from what they were last Christmas, he said. "But it's still pretty tough."
And sales at the store don't begin to compare to what they were several years ago, Dwoskin added. "There's just not as much foot traffic."
As outgoing head of the Capitol Hill Business Improvement Association, he thinks the downturn in holiday sales and business in general are caused by an empty QFC and Safeway in the neighborhood.
And nothing much is going to change until Capitol Hill is redeveloped, according to Dwoskin. He remains optimistic. "I think Capitol Hill is poised to revitalize itself."
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
