Holidays a busy time for stores in Davis

By Teagan Gerstel,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Along with a new cycle of holidays, stores begin to change from Halloween to Christmas decorations in order to prepare for the burst of holiday shoppers.

As a college town, a large portion of Davis residents will return home to visit their family members during the holidays. Although some stores still have shoppers visit, crowds start to die down as people start to leave.

For stores like TJ Max, Styles For Less and Starbucks, the holidays are busy and full of people coming to buy presents. Even though college students go home, there are still regulars that go and shop at these stores.

Some stores like Pinkadot in downtown Davis give their workers the holidays off.

“It’s not hard, we get Christmas and Christmas Eve off,” employee Maddie Nicolaisen said.

Despite the many people who are out of town, local stores still get busy during the holidays.

“We still get a lot of traffic with other adults that come and shop for their kids back home,” Styles for Less employee Jasmin Campos said.

A lot of work goes into getting a store ready for the holidays. Many employees even stay at the store decorating until early morning the next day.

At Bath and Body Works, the whole store changes from blue to red. Mikayla Striplin, the manager of Bath and Body Works, stayed until 5 a.m. last year decorating the store for Christmas. Bath and Body Works gets especially crowded during the semi-annual sales when leftover products from past seasons are brought back.

“Things get a little hectic and crazy,” said Striplin. The semi-annual sale typically takes place after Christmas and again at the start of summer.

For some stores, the holidays are a chance to try out new products in hope of attracting more costumers. Starbucks likes to try out new drinks and samples to bring in more guests.

Despite the high demand for holiday drinks, Davis Starbucks manager Elina Hernan says that Christmas is not the only busy time of year.

“We consider Davis move-in day, the days leading up to when the college students move in [as] our biggest holiday,” barista Elina Hernan said. Starbucks gets lines out the door full of students who are moving into their dorms and getting ready for the new school year.

In contrast, when UC Davis students move out for summer vacation, the town takes a quiet turn. Stores like TJ Max experience a calmer shopping season.

“It’s more quiet in the summer,” TJ Max employee Nieve Habel said. “It’s kind of nice. I don’t mind going to work.”