What's Happening in Baraboo, WI…

The holiday season can be a brisk one for retailers, and for businesses in downtown Baraboo, store owners noted that this year was no exception.

According to business owner Jean Panucci, November’s cold weather kept people at home, but they made up for that in December, and she noted that it fared well when compared with previous holiday seasons. In fact, the last Saturday before Christmas was the busiest in her recollection.

Other local retailers reported similar results. Todd Wickus, who owns a downtown toy store and is also president of Downtown Baraboo Inc., felt sales have slowly been going up since 2009 and 2010, and more people visited the downtown and chose to buy local. There were many different events scheduled to help make it an attractive choice for shoppers, such as horse drawn carriage rides and breakfast with Santa. Other businesses, such as florist shops, were also pleased with the level of sales during this timeframe.

A downtown sporting goods retailer felt that the lack of snow may have kept some potential customers away, but once there is a decent snowfall, things should pick up.

Encouraging people to support their local retailers can help to improve the bottom line for area merchants. A flyer printing company can help to get the crowd out about upcoming sales and other promotional events that can help them to make the choice to patronize local businesses.