On Saturday morning in Bethlehem, temperatures were just above freezing, and the sun was shining, making it a far cry from the rainy, wet Thanksgiving just two days earlier.
With the clear skies — despite the cold — came an influx of shoppers to downtown Bethlehem for Small Business Saturday, a coordinated effort to shop small for the holidays.
“This is a perfect day for it,” Emmaus resident April McGovern said while shopping at , a Celtic gift shop along Main Street. McGovern and her husband were planning on shopping local all day in Bethlehem, starting on the North Side and then going to the South Side and , the Christmas market there.
“We do it all,” she said.
Small Business Saturday focuses on shopping local the day after Black Friday to support local businesses. Since then it has helped generate more than $200 billion in reported sales, according to American Express.
On Saturday morning, shoppers were already making purchases at the many small business and the various Christmas huts that host pop-up merchants in downtown Bethlehem.
A number of customers were already shopping at the , a gift shop with keepsakes from Bethlehem, not long after it opened. Emily Long and Taylor Lutz, both of Bethlehem, said they like to shop local on Small Business Saturday.
“I’d rather get stuff here,” Lutz said.
The two were looking at some of the candles there, and spoke highly of the Christmas items, such as ornaments, that the shop has.
“There’s lots of good stuff for Christmas,” Long said.
Shop owner Babak Kamyab said Saturday kicks off a busy season for them while people come to the store in search of things for Christmas, or just to pop in while touring the area for the holidays.
“After Thanksgiving, every weekend is like mayhem,” he said, adding that business is good.
That was a sentiment shared by Lisa DiDonato, manager of , another business along Main Street. After just an hour of being open, people were flocking to the shop to taste test the oils and vinegars before buying them. The store’s top seller, she said, are bottles of oil.
DiDonato said it will be busy through the holiday season as people come to shop for gifts or just experience various tourists events in the Christmas City.
“This is like our ‘Super Bowl,” she joked.
Bethlehem Township resident RJ Judge was among the many there Saturday morning. He was taste testing in hopes of getting some oils for a Christmas gift. He spoke highly of the cinnamon and pear infused dark balsamic vinaigrette, adding that it had a nice full flavor.
“It was hard to have just one shot of it,” he said.
Both Judge and McGovern said those shopping in Bethlehem for the holidays should check out both sides of the city, Christkindlmarkt, and the Christmas huts that are sprinkled around the North Side.
Dee Chiara of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, owner of , was set up in one of the huts in the Sun Inn Courtyard. Bundled up with two heaters in her hut amid high temperatures in the 30s, Chiara said her items were selling well as shoppers braved the cold.
“I cannot say enough about this town,” she said.
Rubena and Steven Smyer, owners of , were set up inside another hut, also at the Sun Inn. The Stroudsburg-based company sells homemade hot sauces, with flavors including holiday hot honey, smoky barbecue, pineapple and ghost pepper lime.
Within the first hour of opening, they had a few customers already, Steven Smyer said.
Rubena Smyer said they chose to sell in Bethlehem because of its history. It has a nostalgic feeling, she said, reminiscent of simpler times. “We wanted to back to the basics,” she said.
