By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Separated from the central downtown shopping destination — and with their façades still under renovation — the stores of Princeton Shopping Center weathered this holiday season with mixed success, according to merchants.
Among the most popular locations for holiday shopping activity was the recently reopened post office inside Chicklet Books, according to its owner, Deb Hunter.
”Oh boy was it busy,” said Ms. Hunter, who runs the post office with her daughter.
Although the post office was closed for a period earlier this year after Chicklet filled the former site of Chestnut Tree Books, it reopened well before the holiday season — to the delight of many customers, Ms. Hunter said.
Its location in the store provided a great one-stop convenience for patrons, who were able to use the bookstore’s wrapping station before shipping newly purchased books to loved ones, she said.
”We realized we need to offer that year round,” she said, also revealing plans to move the post office upstairs for increased convenience.
”No more lugging packages down the steps,” she said, noting that necessary new postal equipment should arrive by the end of January.
After the change, the downstairs could be used from purposes ranging from book discussions to author events to community nonprofit meetings, she said.
”We’ve got lots of plans,” she said. “We’re trying to be the place to be.”
As for retail sales in the bookstore, Ms. Hunter said numbers were “right on target” — with a lot of titles getting sold out in the process.
”I was so busy with the post office that I forgot to order books,” she said.
George Smith, co-owner of both Smith’s Ace Hardware and Smith’s Ace Housewares, reported similar success.
”Our sales have been good throughout the year,” he said. “During the holidays, they were better than last year.”
Along with regular business, shoppers were busy purchasing cooking items for holiday festivities, lights and extension cords for decorations and gift items like tool boxes and tool sets, Mr. Smith said.
Still, other stores reported less than the desired amount of cash register activity.
John Sherman, owner of Learning Express toy store, called holiday sales “blah.”
Though he said the amount of sales was “reasonable” given the state of the economy, they were “certainly nothing great” and definitely less than in previous years.
Mr. Sherman said he’s unable to pin the decline on any one factor.
”I really can’t even guess,” he said, noting that the ongoing renovations were a possible, but not definite, factor. “If the economy were booming and I were having the same experience, it would be easy to point to that.”
Calling the season’s sales “soft,” Jordan’s Cards & Gifts owner Lewis Wildman was similarly unsure about which of the “million factors” contributed to the disappointing revenues.
”I don’t know if it has anything to do with construction,” he said, noting his impression that there is a “general softness around” the entire retail arena. “Even the big box stores were off.”
At Bon Appetit gourmet food store, co-owner Deeann Lemmerling reported a “very positive” season, but said she’ll know better after the continued holiday rush whether this year’s numbers are consistent with previous years.
Ms. Lemmerling said profits are likely up due to solid “all-around sales” and a strong catering business, with many customers looking to entertain relatives and friends.
”So far so good,” she said. “We’ll see how New Year’s goes.”

