Small Business Saturday is a big deal in New Ulm

Small Business Saturday, a promotion to counter Black Friday shopping, is extremely popular in New Ulm. Many small businesses in New Ulm credit Small Business Saturday as their biggest shopping day of the year.

For A to Zinnia Floral & Gifts the weekend after Thanksgiving is always the busiest time of the year.

Owner Heather Hacker-Hammer said A to Zinnia was different from some small businesses because they sell Christmas trees, the entire weekend is busy. It is the biggest weekend for Christmas tree sales. The

A to Zinnia green house received a lot of foot traffic.

The Paa family meets with Santa and Mrs. Claus during during the 9th Annual Holly Day with Santa at the Best Western. Emilia (left) asked Santa for a sparkly book. Owen asked for a toy Batmobile.

The full A to Zinnia staff as well as the entire Hammer family was on hand Saturday to answer customer questions.

Fraser fir trees are the most popular selling Christmas trees. Hacker-Hammer said the fraser fir is popular because it holds its pine needles well and it smells great.

“It is the Cadillac of Christmas trees,” she said.

The next most popular tree is the canaan fir, which is actually a hybrid of a fraser and a balsam tree. The canaan has the needle retention of the fraser with the fragrance of a balsam.

Spencer Hammer said aside from species, customers were moving toward narrow Christmas trees with more space between the branches.

Elijah Friese organizes the Christmas trees in the A to Zinnia greenhouse.

“They want that old fashion tree,” Spencer Hammer said. “Like something they just found in the forest.”

In terms of tree decoration, the Hammer family saw neutral colors as the most popular this year. White was extremely popular this year.

“White works throughout the winter,” Heather Hacker-Hammer said. Even after the holidays are over, the decorations can remain up and not seem out of season.

A few blocks down the staff at Inspired department store cited similar trend of neutral colors.

Inspired owner Christina Schwab agreed that neutral colors were in this year. Another popular was trend was tone on tone. As an example, you have a green tree and you decorate it with green ornaments. The ornaments are different shades but all green.

Father and son duo, Mike and David Koester play selections of Christmas songs at Lykke Book. The music helped bring customers in, but also encouraged customers to stay longer. There was seating available for those who wanted to take a break from shopping and listen to Christmas music.

Inspired is a popular Christmas shopping destination in New Ulm with several Christmas trees setup with decorations. The store also has several gift options for all ages.

“We did phenomenal business on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday is always one of our top two sales day,” Schwab said.

The only top day is during the Shop New Ulm at Night promotions sponsored by the New Ulm Chamber each year. This year Shop New Ulm at Night is Thursday, Dec. 12.

This year, Inspired expanded its Christmas sales by opening a temporary pop-up shop called Inspired Holiday Outlet. The outlet shop opened on Oct. 17 and will remain open through Dec. 14.

Gallery 512 also saw strong sales on Saturday. Co-owner Jessica Fischer said they had a steady stream of customers come into the store Saturday despite the cold weather.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is always the busiest sales time for A to Zinnia. Owner Heather Hacker Hammer and her entire family were on hand Saturday to help out answering customer questions.
(L to R) Violet Hammer, Heather Hacker Hammer, Olivia Hammer and Spencer Hammer stand in front of one A to Zinnia’s Christmas tree displays.

She said Gallery 512 has dedicated customers who show up for Small Business Saturday. The cold weather likely encouraged sales of warm weather clothes.

Gloves, mittens and sweaters were the top selling items but small gift such as scented candles and other stocking stuffers also sold well.

As with other shops, neutral colors were selling strong, but Gallery 512 was selling a lot of items in deep green.

“Green looks good on everyone,” Fischer said.

For new downtown store Lykke Books, this was the first Christmas season since opening. To celebrate, the shop hosted a series of musical performances.

Lykke Books owner Brie Taralson said she put the call out to any musician interested in playing and several responded. The music helped bring customers in, but also encouraged customers to stay longer.

In the early afternoon Michael Koester and his father David played guitar and piano together during the afternoon. There was seating available for those who wanted to take a break from shopping and listen to Christmas music.

Taralson confirmed Small Business Saturday was Lykke Books best sales day since the store opened in May.

“We set a sales record before noon,” she said.

No single genre of book were selling, but Lykke Books has seen success with books by Minnesota authors. Books by local writers like Jim Jenson and Elroy Ubl continue to be popular.

The downtown was not the only popular place for holiday shopping on Saturday. On the south end of town the Best Western hosted the 9th Annual Holly Day with Santa. The annual event hosted several craft vendors as well as a chance for kids to see Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Crocheted handmade stuffed animals were a popular gift. Vendor Sarah Smith of MamabySmith said the plushies are popular as stocking stuffers.

“I try to make one of every animals, but I also take suggestions,” she said. Her most popular plushies during the vending show were the cows.

Becca Langer, owner of Bear Den, also saw success with selling stuffed animals for Christmas.

Langer said there was always a family who needed a teddy bear for a new infant. She had also seen success with her plush rattle snakes. Langer places an actual rattle in the toy snakes making them popular with little kids.

The Holly Day craft shows biggest attractions was Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. The famous couple made one of their first appearances of the season during the craft show.

Emilia Paa and Owen Paa were among the first to greet Santa and Mrs. Claus. Emilia asked Santa for a sparkly book. Owen wanted a toy Batmobile.

This year the popular requested items were skateboards, toy vehicles and magic wands.”

Typically boys asked for toy vehicles, with young girls requesting dolls.

Santa and Mrs. Claus confirmed the kids had been good this year.