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Business & Tech

Wayne Retailers Reflect on Season

Some said it was a good holiday season; for others not so much.

Following the holidays is that known time of physical and emotional decompression — a long sigh of relief when we're all getting back into the swing of things. However, how is your community bouncing back?

December is supposed to be the financial golden month for corporate and local retailers alike although, in Wayne, locals businesses have a diverse array of opinions on how the holidays treated them and what they're expecting for the upcoming fiscal year.

The managers at and had primarily positive things to say about how they fared financially this holiday season. 

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"We've been walking a tightrope, but we did better this holiday season than I expected," said Ed Louma of The Reader's Forum. Though print books are said to be enduring a slow demise, Louma says he feels optimistic for what's to come, and also cited the Borders closure as a huge boost for local book retailers.

Manger of Lucky Duck Lisa LeStrange said Lucky Duck did wonderfully and attributes their successful holiday season to loyal locals.

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"There's no other place like Wayne, and I think people know that and want it to stay this way. We have community and customer support,” she said.

However, some store managers didn't do as well as they'd hoped, attributing, not the economic downtown, but the fact that the product was mismatched with the weather and a lower demand around the holidays in general.

and both said their season wasn't record breaking but average or slightly below.

"During the winter we're geared towards cold weather customers -- we didn't have the cold weather," said Beau Moffitt, manager of Out There Outfitters.

Larry Picker, owner of Kids N Kribs has been in business for 30 years and says he sees a relatively similar trend every season. Picker was also the first to attribute his sales year in 2011, which he called "fine", to the unpredictable flux of the economy.

Dale Centofante owner of Katydid on E. Lancaster, attributes much of his downturn in sales to community climate — problems he believes are traffic, no parking, lack of foot traffic.

"Business has been stable because we've found our niche items that people want to buy, and customers are loyal but in past holidays we used to have over 100 people in the store per day — that's decreased by about half," he said.

Still, despite the varying opinions, optimism remained prominent across the board.

Many storeowners said they feel hopeful with the upcoming election, and impending season transition when foot traffic will increase.

Though the thoughts shared were varied, everyone was eager to express a fondness for the Wayne community, loyal customers, and the fact that Radnor residents want to support small businesses.

Centofante said, "Though I have mixed feelings about the upcoming year I will say one thing: everyone has been very supportive. It helps to know we have community support."

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