Holiday Shopping 2003: For some, small is the only way to go

In this article, which originally appeared on December 1 on SunSpot.net, an online service of the Baltimore Sun, writer Elizabeth L. Piccirillo describes how a growing number of consumers spent their Thanksgiving weekend shopping at small stores, replacing crowded malls and long lines with unique gifts and personal service.

By Elizabeth L. Piccirillo

Thousands of Baltimore-area shoppers hit the megamalls and superstores in search of holiday gifts this past weekend, but Ruth Levy wasn't one of them.

Instead, the city resident shopped for toys for her grandchildren at Barstons Child's Play, a small store in the Village of Cross Keys.

"It's overwhelmingly exhausting just thinking about it," Levy said at the notion of visiting a superstore this season. "I like everything about smaller stores -- and, here, they know their stock, it's always been a pleasant shopping experience."

Neither were Herb and Sandy Kasoff. They shunned the big-box stores to make their purchases at Barstons with their grandchildren.

"We like to go to the smaller shops," Herb Kasoff said. "They have more educational toys."

Mrs. Kasoff added, "It's not such a mob scene."

Frustrated with the huge crowds, impersonal service, and traffic delays, Levy and the Kasoffs were among a fast-growing number of residents in the Baltimore region who spent the Thanksgiving Day weekend -- long considered the official start of the holiday retailing season -- shopping at small, privately owned stores.

Evidence is anecdotal, but local shopkeepers and retailing experts say many more people are passing over the huge discount stores, particularly on the Friday after Thanksgiving, to spend their limited shopping time -- and dollars -- searching out unique gifts and obtaining personal service at these small outlets.

"People still like to be waited on at stores with staff who are authoritative and know what they're doing," said George Whalin, president and chief executive of Retail Management Consultants in San Marcos, California. "People still like to go to stores that are fun. People still like to go to stores that offer a unique shopping experience."

The Washington-based National Retail Federation is predicting the best holiday shopping season since 1997, with sales up 5.7 percent over last year, to $217.4 billion, despite some consumer concerns about sluggish economic growth and jobs. That compares with a 2.2 percent increase in 2002.

Retailers also will benefit from one extra shopping day this year, for a total of 27 days.

In addition, online holiday sales are expected to increase this year, too. Forrester Research, the technology firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, estimates that online purchases will increase 42 percent over last year, to $12.2 billion. The results include travel and auction sites.

Whalin predicts smaller retailers will have a good season, too. "And it's going to be very good for those who offer something different."

Recent economic realities have "really shaken out the marginal stores," he said. "There are some pretty good retailers left now."

As a result, the drive for the steadily shrinking consumer dollar is even more cutthroat. "It's too tough out there," Whalin said. "The business is just too tough now.

"Small retailers have to be better," he added. "They've got to be very different, and it's going to be that way forever."

It's this difference that brought Barbara Blair of Towson out Saturday to The Pleasure of Your Company, a gift shop at Greenspring Station in Baltimore County.

"The customer service provided is more personable," Blair said. "If you don't find what you need, they recommend another place."

Still, it was busy inside the store. Owner Hannah Keys Rodewald and her employees could not slow down enough for a lunch break because of the heavy customer traffic.

"Knock on wood, we've been having our holiday business go up every year," Rodewald said. "We're in a situation where our customers aren't driven by deep discounts. They want high-quality items and good service."

Rodewald also co-owns Hannah Elizabeth, another gift shop only a few steps from The Pleasure of Your Company. That store was opened just nine days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which crippled sales that year.

Now, purchases are up 20 percent to 30 percent at both stores, Rodewald said.

"We don't have big ups and downs like malls do," she said. "We have a very steady business all throughout the year."

Back at Cross Keys, Renee Wilson said sales picked up at her store, Heirloom Jewelers Inc., a few weeks ago.

"We're not like a store in the mall where the holiday shoppers come all at once." Wilson said. "Our business isn't as concerned with the day after Thanksgiving. We had a nice day, but it doesn't make or break us. It's a combination of the entire season."

Wilson said Heirloom Jewelers provides "white-glove treatment" to customers. And a growing number of her clientele are men.

"A lot of men step up to the plate to buy things for women here," Wilson said. "We spend a lot of time with them figuring out what their wives would like. We even know some of their wives personally because we're a small business.

"Women realize what hard work it is for men to pick out gifts, so we have very few returns," she added.

A few shops over at Barstons, co-owner Barbara Fineblum talked of "phenomenal" sales brought on by the toy store's kid-friendly environment and eclectic selection of products.

"We know what we're selling, and we have great stuff that no other stores have," Fineblum said. "There's also great customer service here. You go to Toys 'R' Us and there is really no one to help you.

"People want to get everything and not go anywhere else."

One such customer was Laura Burden, who was shopping with her sons -- Sebastian, 3, and Griffen, 14 months.

"Smaller stores are less intense for kids," the Baltimore resident said. "The quality of the toys is better, too. They are more educational and not so big -- and it's a more homelike environment."

Meanwhile, at Hannah Elizabeth in Greenspring Station, Victoria Posey expressed satisfaction with the traffic at the store she managed.

"This weekend has been great, even though the weather was abysmal," she said. "We couldn't be more pleased."

And shopping among the wreaths and candles there was Lisa Wilson. She had no problem with traveling from Catonsville.

"I try to make the holidays a pleasant, peaceful experience -- and the mall is a war zone," she said. "I realize that things are expensive everywhere, but smaller stores have great personal service and quality merchandise."