Post-holiday business is slow for some, not all
This week Cannery Row is flooded with locals and tourists, but hardly any of them are heading into Gifts and More.
“It’s really slow, starting to slow down,” said Gifts and More owner Ditas Asignacion.
Asignacion, along with other retail and souvenir stores, said business is moving at a snail’s pace. Holiday shopping is over and big box stores are offering deeper after Christmas bargains than some of the smaller shops.
“The big stores-they are giving a lot of discounts. And it’s 80 percent, 70 percent off, so they tend to go over there than here,” said Asignacion.
Asignacion said during the summer she sees around 200 customers a day. But this week, there have been fewer than 50. She’s getting creative to get more foot traffic.
“There are some promotions, discounts that we give,” said Asignacion.
But not everyone is hurting for business. Local restaurants said they are experiencing the exact opposite.
A Taste of Monterey and Sly Mcfly’s told KION their restaurants have been packed.
“There are a lot of folks in that are visiting family from out of town,” said Taste of Monterey president Ken Rauh. “So with the weather being nice like it is, it’s a great time to come down to Cannery Row.”
Rauh said this week’s tourism is comparable to what they see during the summer.
“There are probably two or three times the number of people that are here during this week between Christmas and New Years,” said Rauh.
Whether they are busy or slow, store owners said they expect things will be really slow after the New Year.
ORIGINAL STORY: After all the holiday hustle and bustle, the week between Christmas and News Years can seem pretty quiet.
While larger retail stores are busy with gift returns and post-holiday sales, smaller businesses report a slowdown.
On Cannery Row Wednesday, sales were slow at many souvenir shops. Store managers say many shoppers are simply “shopped out.”
In contrast, “everybody’s got to eat,” and there were long lines of hungry people waiting to be seated at Cannery Row restaurants.
Tonight, KION’s Maya Holmes reports on business in the final week of 2016.
