Shoppers search for that unique Christmas gift in ‘Homework’ on 3rd Avenue

Prince George, B.C. – The final full weekend of Christmas shopping is underway, and it appears the season is shaping up nicely for at least a couple of downtown merchants…and there’s a feeling it’s a positive sign of what’s to come for the area in the New Year.

Anthony Voitik, Store Manager and Part-Owner of ‘Homework’ on 3rd Avenue, says with one week left in the holiday countdown, "This year has been leaps and bounds above what we did last year."

Voitik is attributing the upswing in local consumer spending to renewed confidence. He says there’s still uneasiness about the global market, but says, "I think people on a local scale are now looking at how it really affects them overall – it seems like there’s more employment – more jobs in our area and surrounding area."

Northern Hardware’s Ted Moffat agrees. "There’s a lot of employment, there’s a lot of big construction projects that have happened in Prince George and I’m noticing a lot of ‘want ads’ for trades people – I haven’t seen that many ads for a long time, it must be 20-years."

He says, "We’ve done some hiring this fall and it’s been a bit of a challenge (to find people), which it hasn’t been for quite a while, so that’s a good sign (for the local economy)."

Moffat says this summer’s wet weather took a big chunk out of Northern Hardware’s sales that has been hard to recover.

"It rained 39-days in a row. Our camping, fishing and sporting good sales were down 50-percent in July and August," he says.

"(But) we had an excellent November – we were up 18-percent over last year, which got some of those sales back from the summer."

The Christmas shopping season came on early at both businesses and Voitik believes positive momentum is building in the downtown core. "There’s a lot more to do down here – there’s some more shops that have opened up, others are more established in the area." He points to restaurants like Nancy O’s and Hummus Brothers as being great draws.

And the Homework Store Manager sees an even brighter future. He says Northern Health’s decision to move its IT Services professionals downtown is really helping. "All these professional jobs being centred downtown is what drives people in here on their lunch breaks."

Voitik says, "You can just see the face of downtown changing with all the new plans on the horizon, like the Wood Innovation Centre."