High Country shoppers are keeping a tight grip on their hard-earned money, but what they are spending is staying in the community say local store owners.
Some Black Diamond merchants say although more people are shopping locally, businesses are experiencing a small drop in sales this Christmas season.
Black Diamond Pharmasave co-owner Jason Spicer said sales during this year’s third quarter were the lowest he’s seen.
“This is the first time that we’ve ever been down out of eight years being in business,” he said. “That was quite concerning going into the Christmas season.”
While the third quarter was rocky Spicer said it may be temporary.
“It is growing here,” said Spicer. “With Tim Hortons coming here I have a feeling it’s going to create more jobs and keep people in the community working and spending money.”
Black Diamond Light-Up on Dec. 5 launched the Christmas shopping season at Pharmasave and Spicer said things are looking better.
“It was the best Light-Up ever,” said Spicer. “Three hours of being open extended hours we did as much business as we did the entire day.”
Spicer won’t have the final sales numbers until January, but he said this isn’t a banner year, despite the Light-Up boost.
“Our little community seems to be really affected by the economy,” he said, adding home décor sales dropped and customers are buying consumable and useable products. “I know countless households that have family members that aren’t working that were working last year for one reason or another.”
Bali Bling Gift Shop manager Vivian Wiebe also said sales aren’t as strong as last year.
“That might be due to the economy,” she said. “We noticed a bit of a trend that people seem to not have the same disposable income that they once had.”
Wiebe also noticed more people are keeping their money in the community.
“There are definitely some coming in who say that is their preference,” she said. “If they can buy something locally then that’s what they will do.”
Since moving from Government Road to Main Street, Bohemia owner Jennifer Vance finds it hard to compare sales with her store three times larger.
However, what she can say is more people are supporting local businesses.
“I just find that people are really making an effort to shop local this year,” she said. “We had a lot of people mention that they are only shopping local between the four-way stop and the distillery in Turner Valley and nowhere else. Each Christmas we hear a little bit of it, but this year people are really taking this to heart.”
Vance said business started to pick up at Bohemia in mid-November, the weekend of the Millarville Christmas Market.
“That was a phenomenal weekend for us,” she said. “People were complaining that it was too busy and a lot of people came down to Black Diamond instead.”
Diamond Valley Outdoor Hobbies and Fly Shop is new to Black Diamond. Owner Jacob Dimoporo said despite only having a quarter of stock for opening day on Dec. 8, a lot of people have been browsing his store on Main Street.
Dimoporo sells camping, hunting, fishing and other outdoor accessories and has been asking customers for ideas of other items he can carry.
“They are giving awesome feedback with that,” he said. “They treat me like family. I’ve been busy, busier than what I expected.”
