Merchants: Local holiday sales followed national upward trend

Published 1:01 am Wednesday, December 27, 2017

This has been a good year for the economy and the area, local retailers say.

While 2017 might be in the rearview mirror, local retailers have it to thank for setting their sales on the right track.

“This year has been an incredibly good year for us,” J.C. Penney’s floor sales manager, Jasmine Gantt said.

“We’ve exceeded our goal in the jewelry sales by a large amount.”

Ward and Co., a locally-owned business, reported they sold well.

“This year has been comparable to last year, we’ve done well in sales,” the owner, Mike Ward said.

“We have done well and the holiday sales always help us.”

For Pink Peppers, they have had a successful year.

“We have had extremely good business for the year, with little to no returns,” Aaron Dawson, a sales associate said.

At Lena Ellen, the year has been good to them.

In August, the business opened a new store in Destin, Fla.

“It’s been a good year for our business,” Daphne Hardage, the co-owner said. “We’re looking forward to 2018. We will be collaborating with new brands and re-stocking a large amount of new items.”

Walker’s has had a record breaking 2017, but looks forward to a new year with new ideas.

“It’s overall been a very good for us,” owner Alan Walker said.

“We have had a phenomenonal Christmas sale, probably our biggest in the history of the store, due to the traffic from Candyland. I’ve hired new sales people, and we are working on a brand new website. I hope 2018 is good to us.”

At C1 Automotives, they’ve been very successful in their truck accessories sales.

“It’s been a good year. We’ve probably done about $10,000 in truck accessories,” Carl Norris said.

For Harold’s, business has been steady.

“It’s been fine this year,” owner June Simpson said.