Special to the Town Crier
The Grinch from Christmas may have knocked on the door of Los Altos merchants, but kept on moving. Many downtown merchants said they had one of the best holiday selling seasons ever.
Beth Miller, owner of Marian Jackston's on Main Street, said the holiday selling season was wonderful. It started early and went right through Christmas, and it's up over last year.
"Department stores have become cookie cutters. They all carry the same thing and stores all look alike," Miller said. "People come here because we try to inventory what they want. When I go to a buying show in Dallas, I keep my customers in mind and I buy for them."
The biggest shift in holiday shopping were the people who stayed at home and used the computer instead of going to the mall, but preliminary results indicate downtown Los Altos was not affected by the Internet.
"We had a very good holiday season and it's very rewarding because of the many loyal customers in our market area. It was better than '97 and the gloom and doom philosophy never occurred," said Conrad Heintzelman, co-owner of Heintzelman's Bookstore.
Cyndi Lewis, an employee at Lin's Toy Cupboard, agreed. "Everything across the board moved well in our store. It was better than last year and we didn't have any grouchy people this year," she said. "We didn't carry Furbys, because that's a big mass marketer's item. Let them have the problems of a dissatisfied customer."
Stores with new owners and new locations experienced good holiday sales, too. Teri White, general manager of Beauty Center, which just opened on Main Street, said sales were good.
"Everyone said the town needed a store like this, and the response has been excellent. We are new with nothing to compare, but we are very pleased." she said.
In the apparel area, Acacia C had better sales than last year, according to owner Linda Newlon.
"Everything moved. People shopped all month long and it wasn't that last minute rush. People were in good spirits and more men shopped this year for gifts than last," she said.
Los Altos Golf Co. has an informational Web site called www.losaltosgolf.com.
The site is new and brought in a lot of last-minute buyers, said store owner Blair Philip. "Sales for the month were reasonable and about the same as last year.
"Women came in early to purchase golfing items for their husbands, but then the last two days men came in to purchase items for their wives when the inventory was low," Philip said.
Lynn Whitaker, owner of Los Altos Camera, said sales were the same as last year.
"We didn't get the big ticket items this year.
"People bought a lot of point-and-shoot cameras and mid-priced sales items, but big camera items probably went to discount stores or the Internet," Whitaker said.
Andronico's Market at Rancho Shopping Center had excellent holiday sales, according to manager Leonard Rodriques.
The store's sales started to increase right after Thanksgiving when people started to spend, he said.
"We set records in the wine department," said Michael Blasquez, Andronico's wine specialist.
"People bought wine at the high end. Bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that cost $30 to $70 each moved, while stuff on the middle shelf never sold," he said.
Brian Bacher of Rancho Swiss Bakery said: "There were no leftovers - people bought everything in the case before Christmas."