Editor’s note: Leader reporter Jason Arndt hit the stores in Shawano on Christmas Eve and filed this report on what he found.
Families reunite for holidays
For many people, the holidays mean traveling long distances to reunite with families.
AAA projects that more than 1.9 million Wisconsinites will be among the 98.6 million Americans journeying 50 miles or more from home during the year-end holiday season, an increase of 4 percent over last year. This upward trend marks the highest forecast growth rate for the year-end holiday season since 2009 and the highest travel volume for the holiday period on record. (AAA data dates back to 2001.)
The year-end holiday period is defined as Dec. 23 to Jan. 4.
Dan and Susan Frank make the 11-hour drive every other year from Carrollton, Missouri, with their four children to spend Christmas with Susan’s parents, Mary and Bill Hoppe, of Shawano, and other relatives.
On Wednesday morning, the family was gathered around a table at Bult’s Bakery in downtown Shawano.
“The kids (Joshua, Gabriel, Noah and Jonah) like the bakery, and when we get together, we sit down for doughnuts,” Mary Hoppe said.
The Franks, who moved from Shawano 17 years ago, make the most of their opportunity to reconnect with their old hometown.
“My husband and I were both born and raised here,” Susan Frank said. “Of course we love coming back. We get to see all of the family and be home for Christmas and do all of the fun stuff that we do up here.
“While we are here, we are going to go ice skating at the Crawford Center and go sledding and tubing at the Navarino ski hill.”
“I always go to Qualheim’s and Old Glory when I come back,” Dan Frank said.
Jesse Frank, not related to Dan and Susan Frank, was waiting in line at Bult’s as the Franks and Hoppes chatted.
Frank and his fiancee, Beth Phillips, live in Schaumburg, Illinois, where Frank is a freight driver for Schneider National Trucking Company.
“It’s Christmas, and I like to come back and visit everybody,” Frank said. “Pretty much everybody lives here, everybody but us. … It is worth the 200-mile drive back to see them.”
Kristy Kehr, of Shawano, meanwhile, was running last-minute errands at Dreier’s Pharmacy and awaiting her daughter’s return.
“Our daughter and her boyfriend are in Minneapolis and will be coming tomorrow,” Kehr said. “I love to see them, and they are a lot of fun.”
Church prepares for special day
Pastor Susan Phillips of First Presbyterian Church of Shawano was putting the finishing touches on her holiday sermons while finalizing details for the Christmas community dinner that the church will host Thursday evening.
Christmas, she said, “for many of us, is about the incarnation of God … and we are all born to love the world we live in.”
Phillips anticipates about 15 volunteers will be assist at the free dinner, which will include ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls and desserts.
The dinner drew 153 people last year. Everyone in the community is invited, Phillips said.
Volunteers are still being accepted, she said, to help with serving drinks, busing tables and simply lending a helping hand where needed.
“A lot of people step up when needed, including washing dishes, playing the piano for Christmas carols,” Phillips said.
Businesses report steady sales
Dreier’s Pharmacy remained busy on Christmas Eve due to last-minute shoppers.
“Today has been a nice and busy day. With Christmas Eve, we have seen a lot of customers come in,” said pharmacist Tim Dreier, part-owner of Dreier’s Pharmacy.
Dreier said holiday season sales seem similar to last year.
“Right now it appears to be dead even in sales,” he said. “A lot of people are stocking up on prescription refills and getting last-minute gifts.”
Sales also have remained steady this season at Qualhiem’s True Value in Shawano, according to Rachel Kirchner, the store’s accounts receivable representative.
The store, however, sold all of its Christmas tree stands two weeks ago, which is unusual.
“We were out of tree stands a couple of weeks ago, tree stands for live trees,” said Amy Damveld, the store’s lawn and garden manager. “People kept coming in looking for them. … That area went out right away, so that means people are buying live trees.”
Inventories of artificial trees also were sparse.
“We are down to only few now,” Damveld said Wednesday. “We don’t have very many left.”
Martin Jeweler’s co-owner Jim Martin said his business has been booming. He credited the Dazzling Diamonds collection, which features a diamond that moves inside assorted pendant designs.
“This year this thing has taken off, and it’s really unique,” said Martin, who said he sold up to 40 of the pendants within the last week. “This morning I ordered more.”
Not all retailers, locally or across the U.S., were having such good holiday seasons.
Despite an early start to the shopping season, sales data provided to The Associated Press last week showed that stores once again were relying on procrastinators to save the holiday shopping season.
Sales rose 1.8 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15 compared with the same period a year ago, according to payment technology company First Data Corp.
The numbers are modest considering that the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, expects sales for the entire season — November and December — to rise 4.1 percent to $616.9 billion.
story created on Wednesday 12/24/2014 at 10:55:46 am by Jason Arndt
story modified on Wednesday 12/24/2014 at 4:05:45 pm by Lee Pulaski
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