It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year already.
Do any of the ITB people here decorate your store, buy a bunch of chotskies , baskets or anything extra for the holiday’s ??
Do you anticipate this holiday season to be better than last year ?
I love to decorate for the holidays especially because we have 7 - 8 ft windows that face the street and our parking lot. We put up a 9.5 ft tree and have towers of poinsettias on each side of the wine cellar doors and throughout the display area & rest of the store, there’s barely a space that is not decorated around here. It’s one of my favorite times of year . Sounds kind of funny for a JAP !
I decorate the beer shelves with dozens of Christmas beers, but beyond that, we’re tight on space. Lots of holiday gift bags on display, and we put little Xmas tree pictures on wines we recommend for holiday meals, and that’s about it.
I try and work into our ads sometimes that we are a ‘Christmas music-free zone’, at least until a week or two before the big day. It drives me nuts to start hearing ‘Jingle Bells’ piped in 24/7 before the Halloween decorations are even put away. Actually makes me not want to shop in those places unless I have to.
we put out poinsettias and hang lights and garland, but with this current space it’s difficult to do much else. Sonoma Valley has their big event - Holiday Open House - the weekend after Thanksgiving, so i guess the “holiday music” will start then. since the music in the tasting room usually comes from my iPod, i’ll make sure to have the least annoying holiday songs loaded.
I have a huge store of Christmas (and Chanukah) music that you would actually like to listen to, mostly Jazz, R&B, Reggae and some Country versions of both classics and new stuff. Starting the day after Thanksgiving I add 10% a week to the mix so we get to about 60% holiday music by Chistmas week.
Since this will be our first Christmas, I havent yet decided. But I love the Christmas music-free zone idea until well into December. I am curious if people here think that kind of thing affects sales or not. I just think I’d go crazy listening to Mel Torme and Bing Crosby all day!
Michelle,
do you have Pandora ? We have Pandora piped into our stereo system and have a whole bunch of different holiday choices from it, we also mix it with some regular music so I don’t lose the rest of my mind
C’mon, give her a break - all Yiddish words have at least five different ways that they can be spelled in English. (But I agree, “chotskies” isn’t one of the top five in this case!)
Music isn’t the only thing that can cost you. We had a flat screen TV in our wine bar and I had to convince our local cable company that it wasn’t a main source of business or they would have charged us at a much higher commercial rate. Part of that is why major sports games end with a disclaimer about the broadcast being the property of the league and “any rebroadcast or commercial use”, etc., etc…
I just searched for public domain internet radio and found this place PUBLIC DOMAIN PROJECT. This avoids ASCAP and BMI but it limits your choices. If you and your customers like old jazz and classical music then this is the place for you.
Michelle, as someone who has been in retail for decades, I’ve always made a point to minimize the impact (generally negative) of overdone and overplayed Christmas music.
It’s not only better for the customers, it’s better for me and my staff members, which is ultimately better for everybody concerned.
Yes, it does matter to me and it will affect my choice of shopping venues. If it’s overdone, intrusive and begins somewhere before Halloween, I don’t spend my time (or money) in that establishment.
If I hear “All I Want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus” one more time, I will run over grandma with a reindeer!
Decorating is a good idea, as long as you have the space and it doesn’t detract from the overall ease of shopping. I dislike having to hunt around decorations to find what I’ve come into the store to shop.
Keep your spirits up, have fun and enjoy the holidays.
Ok, but as every state is different, I’m not certain this applies across the board. We only sell wine & liquor, folks can’t drink in the store. I don’t think music is a problem in NY.
CA stores can have on-premise service as well, in those cases I can see how BMI could get you.