Westmoreland County retailers 'cautiously optimistic' for good holiday shopping season

Like many owners of small businesses in the area, the owner of Penelope’s Gifts and More store in downtown Greensburg is hopeful about the holiday shopping season — despite the pandemic and a higher unemployment rate.

“I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s such a different year, and you can’t compare it to anything else,” said Mary Wilmes, who has owned the eclectic boutique for five years and was a co-owner for about 25 years.

Joining in that optimism is Tracy Alaia, owner of Feathers Artist Market & Gifts in Irwin.

“I feel like people have been shopping local, and they’re shopping a lot,” said Alaia, who has owned the store for three years.

Hopeful and “cautiously optimistic” are the watchwords for many store owners as they enter the crucial holiday shopping season — from Black Friday and Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday and through the remainder of the year. Many businesses suffered this year when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered “nonessential businesses” to close for 2½ months to slow the spread of the coronavirus. More losses came as parties, proms, weddings and other events were canceled.

Local retailers face more challenges during the holidays as about 96,000 people in the Pittsburgh region remain unemployed, with the region’s jobless rate at 8.2% — a far cry from the 2019 holidays, when that rate was 4.7%, according to state labor statistics.

Maybe the good news for retail shop owners in this year of economic turmoil is a prediction from Duquesne University associate marketing professor Audrey Guskey, who believes “consumers will spend about as much as last year. Holiday sales are likely to be flat in the region because people are concerned about job security and many who are working are doing it from the comfort of their home.”

Several shoppers interviewed this week while searching for holiday sales said they would spend about the same amount or slightly less than last year, like Ana Strandquest and her friend, Lisa Yocum, both of Westmont, Cambria County, who were shopping in Ligonier.

“I think I will spend less because of all the uncertainty. I’m being more cautious,” Strandquest said.

With all of what the nation has gone through because of the pandemic, “people are focusing more on what is important — family, faith and friends,” Yocum said. “We’re staying safe as much as we can.”

“People are spending about the same as last year,” said Kevin Miscik, owner of Lapels a Fine Men’s Clothier in Greensburg. And the differences in the purchases is that people are focusing more on leisure and comfort clothing because they are working from home, he said.

Nationwide, holiday sales are expected to increase between 3.6% to 5.2% over 2019, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 16,000 member companies. The federation predicts a bright holiday shopping season despite a national unemployment rate of 6.9%, with 11.1 million people out of work.

“We’re expecting pretty strong growth, particularly given the fact that there’s been a pandemic this year. But we’re seeing really encouraging signs of spending from consumers and a lot of interest around holidays or celebrations,” said Katherine Cullen, senior director of industry and consumer insight for the retail federation.

A less-rosy holiday sales picture is painted by CBRE Retail Research, an arm of a national real estate services and investment firm, which predicts holiday sales will rise less than 2% from last year, assuming there is no major resurgence of the virus or mandated store closures.

Guskey believes consumers in the region will be focusing their spending on practical and essential items for the home, particularly for entertainment or physical fitness because they are spending so much time at home.

Retail analysts see online sales are benefiting from the pandemic and concerns over gathering in crowded stores. CBRE predicts e-commerce sales will have a record year-over-year growth of at least 40% in the final two months of the year. More shoppers are turning to online sales this year and picking up the items curbside, so they don’t have to go inside or don’t have to rely on delivery services that are swamped, Guskey said.

Sales in the brick-and-mortar stores along Main Street, highways and the malls are expected to decline, according to CBRE Retail Research.

But, several shop owners say that it is their loyal customers who have helped them survive through the difficult times.

“People love the small town stores, and they don’t want to lose them,” Feathers owner Alaia said.

For Ron Palarino, who moved his Gift Basket World shop from his car wash on Route 30 into downtown Irwin after the shop was flooded twice in recent years, the shopping season is looking good.

“We’re getting more walk-ins (being in town), and the large events are bringing people in,” said Palarino, who has partnered with Sarris Candies for chocolates. “We’re selling so much more down here. Irwin’s like a Hallmark movie town,” Palarino said.

As a niche store, Nodicor Hobby in Trafford has the kind of variety that is not easy to find elsewhere, such as plastic models, drones and supplies and even a Jensen steam engine model made in Jeannette, said Tom Corridon, whose brother, John, has owned the store for eight years.

“I’m fairly optimistic about the season. Small Business Saturday has always been good to us,” Corridon said.

Completely Booked, a book and card store in Murrysville, benefits from being one of the only independent retailers in the county selling new books, said Cam Kovach, who opened the store in the Blue Spruce Shoppes in September 2019.

“Things are going well, despite the times. People want to support an independent bookstore,” Kovach said.