Oswego merchants optimistic as holiday shopping season arrives

The Christmas holiday season is a time of hope and good cheer, but this year it is also a time of optimism for several small business owners in downtown Oswego.

As the holiday shopping season kicked off this past weekend with Small Business Saturday, downtown merchants reported continued strong customer traffic.

“I think it was really good last year...people were so supportive of the whole thing of small businesses,” said Leslie Hilderbrant, co-owner of Hudson Design House at the corner of Main and Washington streets.

“I think it will be good this year, too, because people are supporting smaller businesses and they see the positive impact that they have by shopping small in their community,” Hilderbrant said.

Megan Dell’Aringa, owner of Floral Expressions & Gifts around the corner on Main Street said that residents were cautious last year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but still came out in large numbers to shop locally.

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Michael Hamann bags up a Christmas tree for sale Nov. 27 at Dusty Road Merchants in downtown Oswego. Hamann, whose wife owns the Oswego shop, said that Dusty Road has been selling Christmas trees at the store for three years, selling about 500-800 trees a year. (Shea Lazansky)

“I think everybody had that flip of ‘We need to support our small businesses, we need to focus on them,’” Dell’Aringa said.

Online sales have been another highlight for Floral Expressions, she said, adding, “People like to support any which way they can.”

This year, Dell’Aringa expects sales and customer traffic to be just as good.

“There’s definitely a nice vibe throughout,” she said. “I think people still have a sense of helping in a small community. That’s what we all like about this day (Small Business Saturday), people come in and they want to spread the love around downtown.”

Phyllis Barber and Shannon Heckman, owners of Happenstance Goods also on Main Street, echoed Dell’Aringa’s sentiments.

After closing for 10 weeks due to the pandemic in 2020 Heckman said “the community came out and shopped their hearts out.”

“In our experience, they showed up and it was awesome,” Barber added. “We’ve had a lot of support through the downtown association and the village and the chamber’s events.

“We have growing support every day.”