WEST BEND, Wis. — With Christmas and New Years officially over, small businesses are thinking about the important holiday shopping season.
Kim Walecki owns Riverwalk Candle Company in downtown West Bend. Walecki said the holiday shopping season is extremely important to his company’s bottom line.
Walecki said she was overall happy with how things went this year.
“We sold a lot of gift certificates; many new customers have arrived. This season has been a really good season for us this year,” Walecki said.
Walecki credited downtown business events with helping attract new customers to her business, which opened in late 2023. She said the events, hosted by the Downtown West Bend Association, are one of its biggest drivers of new customers.
“It attracts a lot of customers. Regular customers but also customers who come in, we give them a flyer and we see them coming back months later,” Walecki said.
Noelle Braun heads the Downtown West Bend Association. Braun said businesses she spoke with reported a good holiday season, with shopping starting earlier this season than in the past.
“I’ve heard that November is actually the busiest month for some of the stores I’ve talked to,” Braun said.
Braun said after each holiday season, she talks with local businesses about which business events worked best and about opportunities for improvement in the future.