As the New Year approaches, I always smile knowing that Christmas is over
once again. It’s not that I don’t love
Christmas, but as most people can relate,
Christmas shopping can be quite stressful.
Most years I stress over what to buy for
those family members that have everything.
To my surprise, this year seemed to be a bit
more relaxing than most.
To start the season, I
woke up to a cold rainy November morning at
6 a.m. with plans to help decorate our
downtown square for the annual Decorating
Blitz. Arriving at the Chamber I was pleased
to see 40-50 business owners, TRUST
students, boy scouts, lawyers, a pharmacist,
a real estate agent, many others and family
members that all ventured out into the cold
soggy weather. Aiding our efforts were tow
motors, lifts, and bucket trucks provided by
local industry and the city of Bryan. After
three long finger freezing hours, our
downtown was the most beautifully decorated
place for shoppers to enjoy for the next
seven weeks. (That’s not counting the mass
of hours spent by our local city employees
and Chamber workers that worked before and
after this day.) With the spirit of
Christmas now in the air, I began preparing
myself for the long expensive shopping
season.
Having the atypical
family, Christmas can be overbearing at
times. I have 6 sisters (that add 5
in-laws), 4 dads, 3 moms, 12 nieces and
nephews, and 8 grandparents…luckily I don’t
have kids of my own. I work two jobs and buy
for my co-workers as well. When all is said
and done, it tends to be very expensive.
Everyone asks why I don’t draw names. When
attending 7 different Christmas gatherings
it’s difficult to say, “I’ll buy for so and
so, but not for you”. Regardless, I’ve had
the last eight months to shop the local
merchants to prepare for this festive time
of year.
I actually started
Christmas shopping at the sidewalk sales in
August, and then added to it at Fall Fest.
This put me ahead by four gifts when I
started the bulk of my shopping the week
before Christmas this year. I had already
decided that I wasn’t going to leave Bryan
to buy ANYTHING. Lucky for me, I found 98%
of what I needed right here in my district.
By “my district” I mean the 26 blocks that
make up the downtown shopping district of
Bryan. (The other 2% of my gifts I still
bought here in town.)
Within those 26
blocks, I found everything from games to
clothes, jewelry to house wares, Spangler
chocolates to Pence’s carmel corn and yes
even something for that hard to buy for
person. December 20th, my first night of
“real” shopping, I walked into a store,
handed the store owner my list of what
seemed to be 1,000 people to buy for and
said, “Can you help?” She was wonderful!
After about an hour, I had 10-11 people
bought for, and even had the packages
wrapped. I left feeling completely satisfied
with what I had bought. I’ve never done that
outside of Bryan. To make it even better it
was “Let’s Make a Deal” day at the store.
Everything was additionally discounted –
what a bonus!
I’ve often wondered
why people travel to Ft. Wayne, Toledo, and
Defiance to do their shopping. My little
sisters tell me that Bryan doesn’t have an
Abercrombie or Hollister. Funny, three
stores in “my district” sell those name
brands along with Ann Taylor, Gap, Old Navy,
Banana Republic, and any other name brand
you can think of (at 1/10 of the price as
well).
I too used to leave
town, travel an hour to shop, spend another
hour looking for a parking space, walk a
mile to the mall, and then wait in line for
45 minutes to buy a not-so-perfect gift for
someone – just so I could get out of the
sardine can it felt like I was in. I can’t
remember getting the TLC from mall employees
the way I did downtown either. I wonder why
I ever left town in past years. I wonder why
people would spend $3.09/gallon to be a
sardine in a can at the mall and walk too
far to get from their pitiful parking space
a mile from the door.
A new tradition to my
Haldiman family is a white elephant gift
exchange. Although this seems to be an easy
buy for most, I find it to be difficult to
find something that everyone could enjoy
since you never know who will end up with
it. After contemplating for days, Doug came
up with the perfect idea. I set off downtown
to find it, and checked with two different
businesses that might carry it. Although it
wasn’t on the shelf at either store, one of
the business owners took the time to find
it, rush order it, and deliver it to me in
two days. I didn’t get the call that it was
in – it was personally delivered to my desk
at work. Would Macy’s do that? Not bad for a
last minute gift idea just days before
Christmas.
Bryan has so much to
offer. I’d rather give to our local business
owners that give back to our community. I
don’t see Toledo, Ft. Wayne, or Defiance
donating to our town. Why put your money in
their wallets when our local businesses give
back to all of us? We have one giant outdoor
shopping mall right here in Bryan. The
difference is, it’s locally owned, locally
grown, and your friends and family may work
there. Why not support them and keep them in
a job?
Thank YOU downtown
merchants that made my dreaded Christmas
shopping obligation such a wonderful
experience this year! Not only was it a
great stress-free experience for me, but to
many others that I have talked to as well.
Where else can you find the store owner
bending over backward to help out a
customer? Where else will you find that
employee that will take the time to help you
find that perfect gift? Where else would you
even want to shop after continued
experiences like this?
Did I mention that I
didn’t pay full price for a single gift this
year? The misconception is that local
shopping costs more. I actually spent less
this year than years past, bought more,
spent less time shopping, and had wonderful
parking spaces. I never spent anything in
gas, didn’t wait in long lines, and had the
best possible customer service imaginable.
Did you?
Bryan – who would have
thought that it’s the world’s best kept
shopping secret? Hopefully everyone will
remember this when Valentine’s Day,
Graduation, Birthdays, Anniversaries and
even Christmas rolls around in 2008.
Mandy Hanna, Program Manager
Downtown Bryan, Inc.
