Local stores see brisk business in face of blowing snow, plunging temperatures

Despite the blowing snow and plunging temperatures on Thursday, Shawn Campbell saw plenty of customers at her store Thursday as people wrapped up their holiday shopping.

Campbell and her husband, Bill, own Campbell Creations in St. Charles. They also live in St. Charles.

The business sells charcuterie boards, which Bill Campbell makes by hand.

“It didn’t stop people from coming out,” she said in talking about the weather. “I was getting a lot of phone calls from people who were seeing if I was open. It’s last minute shoppers.”

The store will be open Friday and Saturday as well. Shawn Campbell said she wants to accommodate last minute shoppers.

Those braving the weather in the next couple of days to do last minute Christmas shopping will have to bundle up. According to the National Weather Service, the high on Friday will be -1 degrees, with wind chill values as low as -35.

Temperatures will rise slightly on Saturday, with the high temperature expected to be 9 degrees. On Christmas Day, temperatures will barely be in the double digits. The high temperature is expected to be near 11 degrees.

Blowing snow also is in the forecast Friday and Saturday.

As Campbell noted, the area has seen this type of weather before.

“We’ve had polar vortexes and things like that,” she said. “We’ve been pretty spoiled up until now, if you really think about it.”

She complimented St. Charles public works employees on their effort to keep the roads as safe as possible.

“These guys are just saints in what they do,” Campbell said.

Steve Warrenfeltz, owner of Kiss The Sky record store in downtown Batavia, also reported brisk business on Thursday.

“We were pretty busy up until 3 p.m.,” he said. “We’re only closed two days a year – Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day. And we’ll be open Friday all day and we’ll be open on Saturday until 4 p.m.”

Warrenfeltz arrived at the store early on Thursday because he had to drop his car off at the Batavia Avenue Mobil gas station to get serviced.

“I got here at 8:30 a.m. and I turned on the open sign and the first person came in about 9:30 a.m.,” he said.

The store doesn’t normally open until 10 a.m.

Vinyl records continue to be a big seller at the store.

“Vinyl is carrying the Christmas season and it has all year, really,” Warrenfeltz said.