Local shops gearing up for the Holiday season

MARQUETTE– Like it or not, the holidays are right around the corning and for those who work in retail this is the most wonderful time of the year.

“Very important, we happen to be really busy on the holidays, this is our second year in business coming up here in November,” said Mike Carl, manager of Spice and Tea Merchants in Marquette. “We’re excited to get ready to see a lot of products here for folks.”

“The holidays are immensely important,” said Keith Dickson, the operations manager of Getz Department store, “I mean, we’re in retail, fourth quarter is, and fourth quarter is it for us.”

And it’s no different for local businesses. A lot of business these smaller stores see comes from this time of year. “We tend to see a lot more traffic, we’ve been shipping a lot, I shipped some things today”, Carl said, “People are starting to shop I’ve noticed which is really good.”

And Carl says this leads to substantial business. “Maybe up to, maybe a fifth comes from the holidays,” he said, “between now and Christmas we do a lot of business.”

And with the holiday season just coming in, both business are finding ways to ensure they make the most of the season. Dickson said, “Next week we have an event with Stormy Kromer, the owner is going to be here to meet and greet everyone.” Carl said “We do a lot of different gift baskets and boxes, we include quite a few of our more spice blends or olive oils and vinegars”.

Regardless of what season it is, both Dickson and Carl believe their businesses bring a lot to the area. “In ways, the community supporting Getz has allowed me the opportunity to stay in a place I love, Marquette Michigan,” Dickson said, “because without the community supporting us throughout the holidays, throughout the year; jobs like this wouldn’t be available to me. ”