The Golden Dollar Store has decided to celebrate its 12th birthday by having a customer appreciation sale.
“We’re going to have 20 per cent off everything in the store for the whole day,” said Dollar Store owner Charlene Collison.
Collison will have owned the Dollar Store for exactly 12 years on Thursday Dec. 15, when the store will be celebrating its customer appreciation. She also owned 407 Boutique for six years prior to that.
“There’s been quite a few people who, after 18 years, you still see their faces coming through the door, which is awesome,” said Collison.
For a time, Collison kept both businesses, but eventually decided to close 407, and move some of the inventory over to the Dollar Store.
“We still have customers who shopped at both places, so we just carried on some good product. We still have a few higher items that are from the 407.”
Having been a small business owner for 18 years now, Collison has seen many shifts and changes in the market place.
“When I first moved here, there were seven clothing stores… now, if you look around downtown, there are so many empty buildings,” said Collison. “The economy has changed. People don’t have the extra cash that they used to. I think people are buying more what they need, not what they want.”
She also says that other retail options such as the United States, online shopping, and Calgary now that the roads are better, are also contributing to a shift in the market.
“The retail market has really changed, and you keep seeing it change more and more… There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved in owning your own business. And that’s why I really appreciate the customer base that we do have.”
Collison has also noticed a trend of families scaling back on their Christmas shopping.
“People are really cutting back, and I think that’s awesome.”
She has found that lately people are focusing more on the meal, and spending time with family and friends.
The Christmas stock is out in the Dollar Store, so go on in and have a look. The 20 per cent off customer appreciation sale will be on all day Thursday Dec. 15.
“For our Christmas shopping this year, we’re focusing on gift wrapping, and last minute things like stocking stuffers. We also have tons of picture frames right now,” said Collison.
