Small businesses, shoppers returning to holiday markets
NEW YORK — On a recent evening in early November, shoppers at the Bryant Park holiday market in New York City were in the holiday spirit well before Black Friday. The scent of pine wafted from candle sellers’ booths, people snapped up gingerbread cookies and hot apple cider and ice skaters swirled figure eights around the rink in the center of the market.
After two years of pandemic holidays when people spent more online, shoppers are back in force in stores and at holiday markets. Small businesses say it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, both emotionally and financially.
“It’s definitely been busier than last year,” said Sallie Austin Gonzales, CEO of soap company SallyeAnder based in Beacon, New York. This is her second year at the Bryant Park market — officially called the Holiday Shops by Urbanspace at Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park.
“People are taking advantage of being a part of society again and walking around.”
Christmas markets have been popular in Germany, Austria and other parts of Europe for centuries. They’ve become more popular in the U.S. over the past few decades.
Urbanspace now operates three holiday markets in New York: Bryant Park, Union Square and Columbus Circle. The pandemic put a damper on festivities in 2020, when only a scaledback Bryant Park opened. Last year, Bryant Park was open at full capacity, but Union Square was at 80% capacity and Columbus Circle at 50%. This year, not only are all three markets at full capacity, Urbanspace has one in the Brooklyn borough that opened this week. Vendors apply for pop-up spaces and pay weekly or monthly rent to Urbanspace.
“We’ve received more applications than ever before, that tells us vendors are excited to be back in the pop-up game,” said Evan Shelton, Director of Pop-Up Markets at Urbanspace.
So far, foot traffic is up slightly from last year as tourism continues to improve, Shelton said. While the number of tourists remains below 2019 levels, the tourism trade group NYC & Company expects 56.4 million domestic and international visitors by the end of 2022, up 30% from a year ago. That bodes well for small businesses as the holiday shopping season can account for 20% of annual sales.
For some small businesses, the markets are a welcome respite after a punishing couple of years. Elizabeth Ryan, who owns and operates Breezy Hill Orchard in Staatsburg, New York, said the initial onset of COVID-19 caused her revenue to plunge 80% in 2020.
Ryan is a founding member of the Union Square Greenmarket and a longtime staple at the Manhattan holiday markets, where she sells cider, doughnuts and gingerbread cookies. She said her orchard has mainly recovered, with the help of a good apple crop this year. But holiday markets give her a muchneeded revenue boost.
“We love working for the holiday markets, it has helped us a lot to get through various and sundry problems,” she said.
Preparing for holiday markets is labor intensive, because many small businesses have to haul their goods from miles away and spend long hours staffing their booths. Ryan’s farm is 100 miles north of the city and Ryan drives in almost every day. But being at the market and watching New York City recover from the pandemic are worth the hassle.
“Reopening of the shops and the return of Christmas last year was very exuberant and joyful. I hope this year is the same,” she said.