Holiday Happiness For Some Roseville Retailers

While the 2011 Christmas season wasn't the strong winner that industry analysts and several major retailers expected, some Roseville merchants found plenty of holiday happiness.

Gene Richtsmeier, general manager of Games N Go at Rosedale Center, said his holiday season sales "were very positive,'' estimating his video gaming and accessorries shop posted about a 25 percent increase in year-over-year revenue. He attributed the impressive gain to new game titles and new gaming systems.

"We hope to see steady traffic for the rest of this month (January)," Richtsmeier said.

Another Rosedale merchant, 4 Gifts Sake, also enjoyed a busier holiday season than the prior year. Sales were sales up 10 to 15 percent, said Dave Garbe, manager of the women's jewelry and accessories kiosk. 

Garbe credited his increased sales not to more spending per shopper but simply more shoppers at the mall. "We saw a tremendous increase in foot traffic," he said.
While overall sales figures were not yet available from the holiday season, a Rosedale official said the mall had plenty of shoppers.

"Black Friday was very strong with the retailers and the last minute shopping picked up the last week prior to Christmas," said Liz Ostrander, Rosedale senior marketing manager. "We also experienced a heavy traffic pattern the week after Christmas including Jan. 2. December mall traffic was up 6 percent over last year (2010)."

Meanwhile, Sommerfeld's Computer Revolution, reported its 2011 holiday season sales were up about 5 percent from the prior year.  The shop, which is west of Rosedale, has found a number of small- to medium-sized business doing major computer equipment upgrades, said co-owner Mark Sommerfeld.

However, the success of these Roseville merchants outpaced many other merchants. Earlier this month Minneapolis-based Target Corp. reported its December sales rose only 1.6 percent compared with the same month in 2011, less than the 3.1 percent analysts had expected.

Also, the International Council of Shopping Centers said that overall retail sales rose 3.5 percent in December, a result that it called OK but not impressive.