Madison shopping centers experience surge of shoppers post-holiday

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Despite Christmas and other winter holidays wrapping up this week, shoppers continued to crowd shopping centers.

Many stores saw increased shopping before the holidays with shoppers looking for gifts. Now, many are using holiday cash and gift cards, exchanging or returning gifted items, or taking advantage of post-holiday deals.

Over this year, West Towne Mall traffic is up 5% according to the mall’s Marketing Director Eric Zizich.

“There’s different deals that you’re going to get when you come in the store. Then you can also make sure to try it on so that you don’t figure out that doesn’t fit right, and have to go back,” explained Zizich.

Continuing to encourage profits, many shops continue to hold sales. Local shops are also looking for customers this time of year.

“We do have nearly half of our stores that are local or regionally owned and it is obviously very important to support those businesses, and this is a key time of the year for them” explained General Manager of Hilldale Shopping Center Nanci Horn. “This is the time that they’re looking at their year-end numbers and it’s really the best time to kind of show your love and come out to support them.”

Gift card usage and exchanging items also bring in an increased amount of potential customers. Horn says that most shoppers using gift cards spend over the amount on the card, which helps retailers continue to turn a profit.

“Lots of folks are taking advantage of the gift cards they received, some coming in and trading up, and obviously any gift card sales turn into after-holiday traffic which is great,” said Horn.

Wisconsin Design Team has a pop-up location at Hilldale, allowing them to have more foot traffic.

“We’re hoping that it stays busy through the weekend, people that are in visiting family maybe got a little more time now that stuff has died down, and before New years and today’s been decent,” explained Josh Kuhn, an owner, founder & designer for Wisconsin Design Team.

Kuhn expects sales and traffic to slow down in the new year but appreciates people continuing to stop in and support their local business.

“You get more, you get more out of the community you’re supporting, the people you’re around, and it’s cool for us to interact with those people that are around here and seeing them choose something like us that maybe feels more personal than something they could choose to find somewhere else for maybe cheaper,” said Kuhn.

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