.jpg)
The holiday weekend and good weather brought increased sales to area businesses.
For Lexington, sales stayed similar to what they were last year.
“Going around on Small Business Saturday, everybody was saying that Black Friday had been very busy,” said Rebecca Logan, executive director of Main Street Lexington.
“November is shaping up to be a very robust shopping month in general, if the traffic on Black Friday was down from last year it was only by a very small amount, and November shopping overall is better than in 2022,” she said.
Main Street Lexington brought in some new holiday spirit over the weekend, and saw increased attendance at a familiar celebration.
“We did have the Grinch come around, from one to three o’clock, he was going into the businesses. People seemed to really enjoy that,” said Logan.
, page B10 “The weather was very cooperative over the weekend. Our candlelight processional had maybe the biggest crowd in years, and I think the weather helped with that.”
Walkabout Outfitter, located on Main Street said this weekend’s sales held steady with last year’s.
“It was pretty good. I’d say our Black Friday was a little busier than last year and our Saturday may have been just a little bit lower, but our overall sales were about the same,” said Ellie Bunton, store manager.
“Business was good on Friday; we had a lot of visitors. Overall, it was a little busier this year than last year, which is a good sign,” said Frank Kalesnik, of Historian’s Books.
Other Lexington stores have noticed the longer-term increase in shopping.
“We had a really good weekend here at Sugar Maple. A lot of people were out, and we saw a lot of traffic,” said Hannah Hughes, manager at Sugar Maple Trading Company on Main Street.
“The whole week leading up was very busy, busier than last year,” she said. “It may have been a little quieter Friday and Saturday, but whole week leading up to Friday was great.”
“We had a really good Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving,” said Sandra Duncan, of Purveyors on Main. “It was a decent weekend, wasn’t anything special, but the week leading up to Thanksgiving was really good.”
For Vinyl Cuts in Buena Vista, Saturday was a particularly busy day.
“It was a great holiday weekend,” said Ruthie Lawhorne, owner. “Small Business Saturday is always our biggest sales day of the year. This year we have seen lots of new customers and many familiar faces as well.”
In northern Rockbridge County, both Black Friday and Small Business Saturday brought increased sales to local businesses.
“We had a great Small Business weekend at 3 Seasons Antiques & Unique Treasures! Both days were busy, but Friday was our biggest sales day this year. In the 11 years the shop has been open, Small Business Saturday has always been the busiest - until this year,” said Melinda Mills of 3 Seasons Antiques.
“Wade’s Mill had a great sales outcome for the two days,” said Karen Siegfried, co-owner. “Our Black Friday sales were over a third more than our Shop Small Saturday sales and those were still about 30% more than what we consider a better than usual Saturday in the shop. Combined sales for the two days were also up more than 50% from 2022, which had been great sales days for us last year.”
Traveling customers helped with these increased sales, though Siegfried said local support remained strong.
“A lot of our Friday customers were from out-of-county, either visiting family locally or passing through having visited family elsewhere,” she said. “Most of the customers who were visiting local family were brought to the Mill by their local family members, who were ‘touring guiding’ for their visitors,” she said.
“Some of the locals also shopped, even though we had seen them earlier in the season, sometimes fairly recently. So I just wanted to mention how appreciative we are of the community support, as a lot of the locals have been to the Mill many times previously but still make the effort to introduce it to their family,” she said.
