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Holiday shopping trends in the Battlefords

Dec 16, 2018 | 11:00 AM

With the holiday season upon us and the countdown to Christmas just over a week away, various local businesses in the Battlefords have been thrust into full swing with residents in the community shopping around for that perfect gift.

Laurie Dutton, floor supervisor at Home Hardware, said when it comes to gifts for the kids, this year’s main draw has been more of a do-it-yourself project for parents to work on with their children.

“All that slime stuff,” Dutton said with a laugh. “That seems to be the popular thing – making slime, doing things with slime.” She said the Nickelodeon Glow and Neon Slime Kits that feature what the box calls, “ooey gooey fun,” are all the rage.

“It’s almost like silly putty but foamier and it doesn’t fall apart.”

In addition to the slime kits, Dutton said the classic gifts, such as Lego, are still just as ever in demand.

As far as festive decorations are concerned, Dutton said the more extravagant outdoor yard decorations, such as blow-up snowmen and light-up deer, while still a Christmas staple, have perhaps been less of a draw this season. She said while some have sold, “they’re not flying off the shelves as they have in the past.”

Lights, meanwhile, have seen a bit of a turn back to the classic roots of years past.

“People generally want the traditional yellowy kind of warm light, even though they’re LED’s, which traditionally were more of a white-light in the past,” she said. “The trend at first kind of swung to the white-light, and now it’s kind of swinging back to the warm light.”

All-in-all, Dutton said the seasonal department at Home Hardware is significantly up in sales over last year.

Another business in full-swing for the holidays is FF2 Fashion, a locally owned and operated store selling brand name clothing and accessories.

Manager Tammy Ramsay said a Saskatchewan-owned brand is no doubt topping the proverbial wish list this season for those shopping for youth.

“For both men’s and ladies’ junior fashion, it’s definitely Tentree at the top of everyone’s list,” she said. “That brand has just grown [to be] humongous. Right now their hot ticket item is called the high baller sweatshirt and it has just a Tentree tonal stitching going across, and we’ve had to order those in three times already.”

Ramsay said another high-in-demand purchase was Guess purses and wallets.

When asked about the spending trend of shoppers in the community, Ramsay said it’s been pretty much status quo from this time last Christmas.

“We haven’t noticed a huge spending trend at all,” she said. “It seems to be pretty much on par for last year, and last year we had a record year, so we’re really excited and also proud that people continue to shop local. It’s fantastic because we all work here too and we turn our paychecks back into the Battlefords as well, so it’s really, really nice to see all of these people coming in.”

 

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1