Steady crowds fill local shops

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM---Nicole Aarons got to work at 11 a.m. Saturday to find the New Ulm Target store was already hopping with holiday shoppers.

Aarons works there as a security guard. She dealt with what she described as "a constant crowd" for most of her shift.

Like Aarons, many people working in downtown New Ulm also saw constant crowds as nice weather and a rapidly approaching holiday brought plenty of shoppers to town. The influx, which kept a steady pace over the last few weekends, brought smiles to the faces of downtown business owners.

The sources of the smiles were mulling over the many walls of Christmas tree ornaments in the Christmas Haus, inquiring about cuckoo clocks at Guten Tag Haus, buying mini RC cars at Radio Shack, looking over the marzipan and pfefferneuse at Domeier's German Store and waiting in line to check out at Herberger's department store.

"We've had real good traffic," said Christmas Haus co-owner Curt Domeier.

Shirley Jo Domeier, co-owner of Guten Tag, said the last few weekends leading up to Christmas were "a busy time".

"If the weather is good, people can travel," she said. "It's like Heritagefest every Saturday. That's a good complaint."

Down the street at Radio Shack, sales manager Terry Freidricks was also busy helping customers with questions. He said the most popular items this year are bookshelf stereo systems, DVD players and mini RC cars. He estimated he sold between 40 and 50 of them on Saturday alone and about 200 in the last week. Freidricks said this Christmas business is down compared to how the store did last year.

Across the street, Nancy Paulson was behind the women's shoe counter at Herberger's, the largest clothing retailer in town. She said most holiday shopping seasons have stayed about the same in the 12 years she has worked at the store. Among the most popular items this year: slippers, jewelry and fragrances.

"It's doing pretty well," she said. "We'll probably see the men next week."

Store manager Rollo Lentz said the store's Christmas business is going as planned. He said many shoppers are waiting for those last-minute holiday sales to hit stores. He said the volume of customers has grown as the calendar gets closer to Dec. 24. Lentz said the economy is affecting how local consumers spend their cash. Another factor is the weather, he said. A couple of inches of snow would likely boost sales of knitwear and coats, which Lentz said is a large part of Herberger's winter business.

"Other than that, we're doing about what everybody else is doing," Lentz said.

John Bourn is a sales associate at Retzlaff's Ace Hardware just across Minnesota Street from Herberger's. He too would like to see a few more inches of snow, as snowblower sales tend to rise with falling temperatures and snowflakes.

When asked how holiday business was going, Bourn said, "It's a toss-up between power tools and housewares. It seems Dad gets the blender and Mom gets the drill."

He said Saturday afternoon's business was typical of when the Vikings are playing; business picks up during halftime if it's a really bad game.

Cordless drills are the most popular gift this season, followed by shotguns, .22-caliber rifles and pistols.

"And we always sell a couple lawnmowers and a power tree pruner," Bourn said. "That always surprises me."

Ice houses have sold out twice and Retzlaff's has gone through three orders of ice augers.

"We've had a slow Christmas, but it's not devastating," he said. "It's a little better than average."

The crowds made their way to both of the discount retailers on the southern and northern ends of town. Target cashiers were seeing a steady stream of customers by 5:30 p.m. Saturday, as were their counterparts at K-Mart.

Aarons said she knows it's the holiday rush by what people buy. She said Target sells more gift cards, toys and clothes around Christmas.

"I enjoy it because it's busy," she said, surveying the checkout lines. "It's something to look forward to because it makes the time go faster."

And of course, there's that late-night trip to Mankato when you can't find something around town.

Erin Speldrick, a customer service representative at River Hills Mall in Mankato, said shopper traffic grows and grows the closer and closer Christmas gets. She said the mall sees quite a few people from the surrounding area at Christmas.

"If you wanted to get from one side to the other fast, it would be impossible," she said at 7 p.m. Saturday night. "The parking lot is full."