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Santa Claus is a popular guy this time of year. Children have lined up at the Vancouver Mall all season to get their chance to ask him for their hearts’ desires.
As the tycoon of Christmas, Santa has a unique insight into the economy: the retail demands of children.
This year, Legos have been a popular request. Then there’s the asks for Barbies, the Nintendo Switch and the occasional yo-yo.
“It goes with the trend that electronic stuff has taken over,” Santa said, reflecting upon his years in the business.
The Vancouver Mall’s Santa has appeared at venues across the country for 27 years, meeting children in Portland, Seattle, Boston, New York, California, the Midwest, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi — to name just a few locations.
Twenty-five years ago, The Columbian reported that children were asking the local Santa for Giga Pets, Barbie dolls and accessories, Beanie Babies, video games, computers and bicycles.
“A lot of the kids have asked for something weird this year; they want money,” he said. “It’s like the new world, I guess.”
Santa couldn’t say how many children he’s seen in Vancouver this year.
“We’re breaking the record so far in the last couple of days,” he told The Columbian. “We’ve been doing real good.”
He estimates that he’s seen hundreds and hundreds of kids each day he’s appeared.
“Like I always say, my picture is on more refrigerators than Frigidaire’s name,” he laughed.
‘Strong holiday season’
Business at the mall appeared to be booming Wednesday, a trend that has continued since a busy Black Friday.
“I can tell you that we have seen steady increases in traffic since the holiday season began, and we are very pleased with the number of visitors we have had so far this year,” Tracy Peters, general manager at the Vancouver Mall, told The Columbian. The mall’s corporate policy prohibits staff from commenting on specific numbers regarding sales and traffic.
“If the amount of shopping bags we’ve seen thus far is any indication, we’ve had a strong holiday season so far, and it’s not over yet,” Peters added.
Downtown Vancouver’s retailers, too, have seen steady business.
“As I look out my window right now, the Main Street corridor is bustling,” said Michael Walker, executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association. People are “in and out getting Christmas gifts and things like that for the holidays.”
The association developed a gift guide for the holiday season, highlighting its retailers, which Walker says has been successful.
Walker has been hearing from retailers that they’ve been doing well this season, which he attributes to the unique products sold in the area.
Some of the big-box stores have indicated the season may not be so rosy for everyone in the trade.
“In the latter weeks of the quarter, sales and profit trends softened meaningfully, with guests’ shopping behavior increasingly impacted by inflation, rising interest rates and economic uncertainty. This resulted in a third quarter profit performance well below our expectations,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and chief executive of Target Corp., in the company’s third-quarter Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Still, initial estimates show that national retail sales have improved since last year.
Though they don’t include the entirety of the season, advance estimates for national retail and food services sales for last month were $689.4 billion, down 0.6 percent from the previous month but up 6.5 percent from November 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
National retail trade sales specifically were down 0.8 percent from October but were 5.4 percent above last year’s sales, according to the bureau.
As Santa has been busy all day, every day, he encourages children wanting to see him before Christmas Eve to either make reservations or stand in line a little longer. He’ll be meeting kids from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Christmas Eve. Reservations can be made at https://whereissanta.com/mall/0803.
The mall’s “Elf” Santa photo set provides areas for families to take selfies, which feature augmented reality elements. Photos with Santa, however, must be purchased through his vendor.
