The Economy
Holiday numbers looking good for local merchants
Posted: Dec 28, 2010 10:30 PM by John Romero
Updated: Dec 29, 2010 3:38 AM
New national sales numbers show a rise in holiday spending this year. It's a good sign for merchants in Southern Colorado who say the past couple of years haven't been as kind. "We were significantly down in 2008 and 2009." explains Chris Sondermann, owner of Terra Verde in Colorado Springs.
Nationally sales were projected to rise between 4 and 5 percent. But as the economy moved from naughty to nice, Christmas shoppers spent a lot more than expected. "We actually exceeded our expectations quite a bit. We were happy to see there was a lot of vitality downtown." says Sondermann, "It looks like we did about 15% better than last year. We're just thrilled with that."
But it's not just clothing and accessories. Some untraditional shops like Old Colorado City's Barbeque Mercantile are bringing them in as well. "We have loyal customers. That led us to believe that we would have a good Christmas season. But we didn't expect it to be quite this good." explains owner Ed Bosquet. He tells us he's up around 20% and 2010 has been his best year yet. Merchants hope all of this points to continued prosperity in 2011.
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