Monday, November 23, 2009
Katie Houtz didn’t have an agenda as she started moseying down Massachusetts Street with her roommate Saturday afternoon. But as Houtz, Ozawkie freshman, browsed by stores with holiday stock already on display in every window, she said she couldn’t help but consider ideas for the seasonal gifts she would soon select.
“I just sort of go by and go through everything until I find what I’d like to buy,” Houtz said. In the first or second week of December, Houtz said, she would return to make her final choices.
Stores like The Etc. Shop put out holiday decor to attract shoppers.
The following events will launch the downtown holiday shopping season:
Friday
4:30 p.m. — Caroling and other performances on a stage at Ninth and Massachusetts streets.
6 p.m. — A ceremony starting the Salvation Army bell-ringing holiday fundraiser.
6:10 p.m. — A countdown to the first lighting of all the downtown holiday lights.
6:15 p.m. — Santa Clause is discovered with his sleigh on top of Weaver’s and rescued by a fire truck and ladder.
Dec. 5 (day of the downtown holiday parade)
Shoppers who buy at least $5 of merchandise in five different downtown stores can submit their receipts for a $25 downtown gift certificate.
From Friday, Nov. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 24 most stores will have extended hours until 8, 9 or 10 at night.
Source: Jane Pennington, director of Downtown Lawrence, Inc.
This two-week span, running from the end of Thanksgiving weekend until Stop Day, is the most popular time of the year for downtown businesses to draw student shoppers, said Jane Pennington, director of Downtown Lawrence Inc.
Out-of-town students often only have this time to shop for the holidays because they leave town at Thanksgiving and, from the last day of classes to the last Friday of finals week, their schedules are usually too busy to shop, said Joe Flannery, president of Weaver’s, 901 Massachusetts St.
Pennington said businesses downtown were working to encourage early holiday shopping so students pick up their presents before traveling home over winter break.
Pennington said although many of the stores had already begun marketing their holiday merchandise, a series of downtown events this Friday would formally kick off the holiday shopping season.
She said the ceremony would start at 4 p.m. with Christmas carolers singing on the sidewalks and other entertainers performing on stage in front of the U.S. Bank at the corner of Ninth and Massachusetts streets. At 6 p.m., she said, the Salvation Army bell ringing holiday fundraiser would begin and a countdown ceremony, at roughly 6:10 p.m., for the first lighting of all the downtown Christmas lights would follow.
Flannery said after the holiday lights were illuminated, the crowd would discover Santa Claus stuck with his sleigh on top of Weaver’s. A local fire truck would come to rescue him with a ladder.
“The idea is he lands up there from the North Pole and the fire department brings him down to Massachusetts Street so he can mingle with all the kids and families and kick off the holiday season,” Flannery said.
Pennington said once the family-oriented activities ended, the city had a new event she hoped would draw students downtown. On Dec. 5, the day of the holiday parade, anyone who spends at least $5 at five different stores and submits their receipts will receive a $25 downtown gift certificate.
Pennington said he hoped these activities would encourage students to do their shopping in downtown Lawrence.
“We have such unique shops that they could get things here that they’re not able to get anywhere else,” Pennington said. “If they’re looking for something unusual and not just the run-of-the-mill Walmart or Target sweater, downtown Lawrence is a great place to shop.”
Jeanette Spencer, sales representative, said unique products such as Jayhawk-themed jewelry, doorbells and wineglass charms had been the most popular present choices at the Etc. Shop, 928 Massachusetts St. She said she had already noticed the earliest droves of students arriving to pick out their gifts.
“We’re absolutely having students coming in,” Spencer said. “We just had a girl come in looking for a Jayhawk charm to go on her mother’s bracelet for the holidays. It’s amazing how early it is this year.”
Flannery said he was hopeful students would show the same enthusiasm for downtown holiday shopping he expected from Lawrence families this Friday.
“We love the students,” Flannery said. “Lawrence wouldn’t be the community it is without KU and its students.”
Follow Ray Segebrecht at twitter.com/rsegebrecht.
— Edited by Abbey Strusz
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