Most Consumers Turning to Malls, Outlets and Internet for Holiday Shopping

With Black Friday less than two weeks away, and holiday shopping suddenly on consumers' radar, several residents, students and visitors of College Park said they plan to do their holiday shopping online or with major retailers. Few said they'd turn to locally-owned businesses.

That’s consistent with a recent survey from America’s Research Group (ARG), which said that fewer consumers plan to by gifts this season at small businesses than in previous years.

“I think most people like to go to the mall because they give you more variety to choose from … and discounts,” said Julius Oyin, a Silver Spring resident visiting College Park Monday afternoon. “I think the big guys have the advantage there,” he said.

The ARG study found that 37.4 percent of consumers surveyed plan to do at least some holiday shopping at a small, independent business. That’s down from 55 percent in 1997, according to the ARG founder and chairman C. Britt Beemer.

Proponents of shopping at independent businesses said it helps to keep the local economy healthy.

“The money that we spend [at large retailers] isn’t staying in this community,” said acting director of the Chrissy Rey. “It’s going to their corporate headquarters. I’d rather the money that I’m spending … go to someone that I know than a complete stranger,” said Rey, who also owns Pongo Interactive web development in College Park.

But shoppers seem mostly concerned about the economy of their own wallets.

“In general I go online,” University of Maryland second-year senior Cory Mekelburg said. “Wherever the cheapest price is.”

Mike Bishop of College Park said his family drives to outlets in Delaware, to enjoy tax-free shopping.

Fewer consumers are turning to small business year round, because they don’t do as much advertising as big retailers, Beemer said. But the downward trend during the holiday season is also happening because small businesses aren't luring in consumers with Black Friday specials, he said.

According to ARG research, consumers who shop at a business on Black Friday are three times more likely to return there after Black Friday than they would be if they didn’t shop there on Black Friday at all.

Rey e-mailed all businesses currently participating in CPNBA to find out which ones will have Black Friday specials, and only one responded; Everyday Quilts, an online business that operates out of the College Park Woods, does plan to run Black Friday specials.

Honey Glow Natural Products is also offering Black Friday specials.

But sales and prices mean little when the alternative options just aren't there.

"There really isn't a lot of locally-owned businesses here in College Park," said second-year UMd. senior Hugh Walpole.

Joan Almon, a College Park resident, said that she prefers to do holiday shopping at locally owned businesses as close to the city as possible, but agreed with Walpole. “There isn’t much that I can get around here downtown,” she said.

“There’s a lot more food places now, and not so much to get gifts,” she said.

Seventy percent of the local, independent establishments listed on the Shop College Park website, operated by the city, are restaurants and services. Twenty-seven of the 91 locally-owned establishments are for shopping, and range from liquor stores to clothing retailers.

Almon and Joanne Fitterer of Mt. Rainier both said they prefer these smaller shops and craft shows to big retailers. They were the only two of 12 people interviewed in College Park Monday afternoon, who said they prefer doing their holiday shopping with independent businesses.

“I like quirky little stuff,” Fitterer said. “If it’s a craft, I’d rather know who made it rather than some machine,” she said.