Skip the mall

Shoppers find variety, novelty

in Main Street businesses
By:Emily Craighead
   Malls may offer variety and online stores convenience, but the stores on Manville’s Main Street are offering up their unique charm this holiday season, a bit like the jewelry in Tom McDonald’s store.
   "It makes it special to have pieces you can scour all the mall stores for and never find," Jewelry Exchange owner Mr. McDonald said Tuesday, pointing to some tanzanite earrings, rings and pendants he designed himself. Mr. McDonald said the deep blue tanzanite has been especially popular this year.
   Mr. McDonald hopes the Christmas season and long-term improvements to downtown buildings — like the facade renovations — will attract more shoppers to Manville.
   "We’re just trying to get people to remember there’s Main Street, not just the mall," he said. "We’re trying to get people who travel through here to give us a second look."
   With 46 percent of shoppers saying they planned to do their holiday shopping at malls, 17 percent at discount stores and 9 percent online, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Mr. McDonald and his colleagues on Main Street have their work cut out for them.
   Most shoppers will run into Santa Claus at the mall, but the 6 percent expected to shop at small specialty stores and some of the 14 percent of undecided shoppers can find Jolly Old St. Nick at Hair House International, a salon that owner Mary Tabbit has turned into a workshop for Santa’s elves.
   Clients can stop by and fill out a wish list for a day at the spa, a year’s worth of haircuts or nail care, to name a few. Ms. Tabbit and her elves then will stamp the envelope and send it to the client’s family or friends, who can fulfill their loved one’s Christmas wishes.
   "A lot of the women love the gift certificates, because what do they need another dust collector for?" Ms. Tabbit said during a brief break between appointments Tuesday.
   Whether they are purchasing gift cards or trinkets for their wives, girlfriends and daughters, men are expected to spend on average $789 on holiday purchases — that’s $167 more than women, according to the ICSC.
   Gifts aside, the centerpiece of holiday celebrations in many homes is green.
   Wreaths, poinsettias and, of course, Christmas trees.
   Cheryl Forbes, owner of The Flower Gallery, expects to sell about 100 poinsettias this year. So far, she said, her store has been busier than last year. Most of her poinsettias are grown in a greenhouse in Lebanon.
   "Every year we keep track of what people bought, what we brought in, what we need to buy more of, or less of," she said, though meeting demand can be difficult during the final days before Christmas when everyone rushes to make last-minutes purchases.
   Selecting a Christmas tree is one trip many families make together, and with plenty of time to spare before Christmas.
   Vic Roman of Middlesex has been helping his uncle, the owner of Gray’s Florist, sell Christmas trees at the corner of North Main Street and Brooks Boulevard.
   "We’re selling a lot of big trees this year," Mr. Roman said, stepping out from the shelter of his car on a rainy and cold afternoon. "People come in knowing what they want."
   Children, however, often have their own ideas, pining for a tree that wouldn’t fit into the living room, let alone into the car, according to Mr. Roman.
   Finally, the Manville Professional and Business Association is offering one more incentive to stop by and experience the charm of Manville’s Main Street stores. Customers at any of the stores downtown can enter a drawing for a $500 U.S. savings bond. The drawing will be held Dec. 27.