After two years of pandemic holidays when people spent more dollars online, shoppers are back in force in stores and at holiday markets. Small businesses say it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, both emotionally and financially.
NEW YORK — On a recent evening in early November, shoppers at the Bryant Park holiday market in New York City were in the holiday spirit well before Black Friday. The scent of pine wafted from candle sellers’ booths, people snapped up gingerbread cookies and hot apple cider and ice skaters swirled figure eights around the rink in the center of the market.
“We’ve received more applications than ever before, that tells us vendors are excited to be back in the pop-up game,” said Evan Shelton, Director of Pop-Up Markets at Urbanspace. “I’m very optimistic.”So far, foot traffic is up slightly from last year as tourism continues to improve, Shelton said. While the number of tourists remains below 2019 levels, the tourism trade group NYC & Company expects 56.4 million domestic and international visitors by the end of 2022, up 30% from a year ago.
For some small businesses, the markets are a welcome respite after a punishing couple of years. Elizabeth Ryan, who owns and operates Breezy Hill Orchard in Staatsburg, New York, said the initial onset of COVID-19 caused her revenue to plunge 80% in 2020. Preparing for holiday markets is labor intensive, because many small businesses have to schlep their goods from miles away and spend long hours staffing their booths. Ryan’s farm is 100 miles north of the city and Ryan drives in almost every day. But being at the market and watching New York City recover from the pandemic are worth the hassle.
Shoppers return yearly for her “Roland Pine” line of products including candles and diffusers, which has a piney scent that wafts out of her booth. Devo calls the scent “the star of our company.”
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