Hatboro Hopeful for Hectic Holiday Shopping

With crowds expected to swell outside of big-name chain retailers like Target and Wal-Mart starting Thanksgiving night, Hatboro businesses have their fingers crossed that the area’s unique lineup of small businesses can also capture a portion of that Black Friday frenzy.

While shoppers will be hunting down the best of the best sales on Friday, some shops, like /, aren’t going to be advertising specific Black Friday sales — due to the nature of their business.

“We’re antiques and collectibles so essentially everything’s on sale every day,” said co-owner David Allen, who operates the North York Road store with George Haggerty. “That’s just the way this business works.”

The store offers everything from vinyl to video games and comic books to china and expects the diversity of its collection to attract holiday shoppers in search of a one-of-a-kind gift.

“We don’t just target one area but have everyone from kids to adults come in,” Allen said. “We get a really good mix of people who come in looking for things that are really different and unique.”

Distinctiveness is also a feature that Sheba Jalaluddin, owner of , anticipates could attract holiday shoppers to her store — which offers sweets-lovers everything from a vast selection of fine chocolates to specially-crafted cookies and candies, with personal packaging available for gifts.

The store, which is located in the Red Barn Mall, opened earlier this year and is gearing up for its first holiday shopping season.

While Queen of Sheba Treats isn’t opening its doors Black Friday, Jalaluddin said she expects business to be picking up in the coming weeks.

“Right now, the Thanksgiving time isn’t very big for candy, but I think it’s going to be for Christmas,” Jalaluddin said. “I think people will be looking for stocking stuffers and gifts that candy would be great for.”

The shop will feature 15-20 holiday-themed specialties, and Jalaluddin expects offerings like pumpkin spice malt balls and Jordan nonpareils to be big sellers.

Always a big holiday seller is clothing, and shoppers looking to snag clothing deals without waiting in the lines at department stores this season can head to on South York Road.

While the store specializes in winter women’s clothing, it also offers a large array of men’s items and accessories. Considering the store’s name, owner Yvette Kornfield aptly predicted that the sweater selection will be most popular with shoppers this holiday season. 

The shop will offer Black Friday sales on myriad merchandise, and Kornfield noted that the year-round deals Sweater Mill features have proven integral to its success in the tough economic times.

“Our business is doing better than ever,” she said. “We’re a discount store and that’s what everyone wants now. We have better things at better prices.” 

Although Sweater Mill is heading into the holiday season with confidence, “recession” is still a word that will be on the mind of many retailers as the gift-giving season gets underway.

“People are really afraid to spend,” Allen said. “The recession has affected everything. People are watching every penny they spend.”

In the seven-and-a-half months she’s been in business, Jalaluddin said business has been steady but not overwhelming, about on par with what she anticipated when she opened her doors.

"You always want to see your business do better and grow,” she said. “But there are a lot of coming into Hatboro so hopefully that’ll help boost the businesses that are already here.”   

Even business owners themselves are not exempt from the belt-tightening: In his own shop, Allen said he and Haggerty have become much more selective about the items they purchase to sell.

That seemingly unfortunate byproduct of the recession, however, has helped the store to offer rare products that truly stand out, which could end up being a boon for the business this holiday season.

“When we first started doing this, a lot of stuff came through that we’d just buy, but now it’s really got to be very unique and very different for us to take it,” Allen said. “We don’t want to be like anyone else — we want people to come in here and find something that no one else has.”