Souvenir Shop has new items for Groundhog Day
PUNXSUTAWNEY — For us who have lived in the Weather Capital of the World, we’ve had our eye on Groundhog Day for several weeks now, but there has been others who are working in that area selling souvenirs year round.
Mary Ann Jacobson, manager of Phil’s Official Souvenir Shop, said that, as always, they have some new items for Groundhog Day, one of which is a light-up toboggan hat.
“It has a groundhog on it and it looks like fireworks when it is lit up,” Jacobson said, adding that they also have the Punxsy Phil wine pourer top.
She said they have a great collection of glassware as she found a great company.
“They had a catalogue and they didn’t do anything for Groundhog Day, so I contacted them two years ago and asked them if they wanted to do Groundhog items and she said yes,” Jacobson said. “It’s exclusive to our shop; they showed me the artwork to approve it, and you’ll see that it’s all the same artwork on all of the glassware.”
Jacobson said that the internet orders are about the same.
“During the pandemic it was still about the same,” she said. “This year, I was concerned about a fall-off because prices went up, as they did for everything, but it doesn’t seem like it has had a huge impact. We’ll see what the whole total does at the end of Groundhog Day.”
Jacobson said right after they returned from Christmas break on Jan. 1, the orders started coming in.
“We sell items year round, and I do some specials two or three times a year,” Jacobson said
She said they still receive phone orders.
“Some of them have computers and some don’t,” she said. “One lady from the state of Washington wondered how fast I can get it to her. Obviously, if it’s done on the computer it’s faster because it’s already charged; we don’t have to go into credit cards and do everything manual, it’s in our system, we print it and pack it and we have a postage program on their address, we hit buttons and it prints out the packing slip.”
They have a lot of walk-in traffic during Groundhog Day. This year its on Thursday, closer to the weekend, bringing hopes of a slightly larger crowd.
Jacobson said the last time Groundhog Day was on Saturday, the traffic was never-ending.
“The map we have on the wall, we ask everyone to put a push pin on the
map where they’re from,” Jacobson said. “That map has been up for the last two and a half years, and we were closed for four months for COVID and we have had visitors from 30 countries and from every state.”
Their shop’s website is www.groundhogstuff.com, and it has Facebook and Instagram pages.
The Souvenir Shop’s regular hours are: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Groundhog Day hours: Saturday, Jan. 28; Sunday, Jan. 29; Monday, Jan. 30; and Tuesday, Jan. 31, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 1, the shop will open at 9 a.m., and Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7 a.m. They’ll be open both days until there are no further customers.