Business & Tech
Holiday Spending Lifts Sales at Local Shops
Miller Place and Rocky Point stores said holiday sales were back to normal this year after economic slump.
The end of the 2010 holiday season has left several Miller Place and Rocky Point store owners feeling relieved and refreshed.
After a dismal 2008 and only slightly better 2009, many local shops saw a jump in holiday revenue this season, which many attributed to the sale of more big-ticketed items.
At both and in Miller Place, for example, seasonal sales were up about 20 percent this year over last. The total was a far cry from sales in 2008 for Frame that Art, when the economic squeeze knocked holiday revenue of its mark by 45 percent, said Reggie Andre, one of the officers at the store.
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Mike Ferraro, who took over Plaza Sports from his father in 1981, pointed to higher-priced products like North Face fleeces and Uggs as contributors to the leap in business at his shop this year.
It was a similar story at on 25A. Gary Wladyka, who's owned the store since 1991, said the number of sales this season was flat over last year, but total revenue increased thanks to the sale of more big-ticketed products.
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"People were less resistant to higher-priced items," he added.
It wasn't just retail stores that got a boost from the busy season this year.
The Rocky Point Barber Shop, run by Turkish cousins Yavuz "Anthony" Can and Gokhan "Johnnie" Ucar, logged a 70 percent leap in business during this year's holiday rush. The shop, which opened its doors Dec. 8, 2009, does nearly 50 percent more business during the holiday season than it does the rest of the year, according to Can.
Wladyka said local businesses can thank good customer and community service just as much as the economic upswing for a prosperous holiday shopping season.
The local barber shop owners, for example, mix good ambience with fair prices – a haircut will set you back just $10. On any given day, you can sit down in the barbers chair and catch the end of a movie like "The Departed" while getting a snip, then waltz out while a mother and her four-year old son walk in and get the same level, but different type, of service.
Other local stores like the in Rocky Point were never stung by the economic slump. But supermarket owner Drew Tyler said he's still thankful for the slight uptick in business this holiday season.
"I was relieved," he said. "We kept waiting for a downturn, but it never came."
