Rising costs force St. John's retailers to make adjustments for holiday shopping season

With December just around the corner, small business owner and artist Anna Murphy has prepared for early Christmas shoppers by displaying holiday-themed T-shirts and goodies at her store, Yellow Rose.

Murphy's bright yellow boutique is located on the second floor of the Posie Row gift shop on Duckworth Street in downtown St. John's, where she sells a variety of hand-dyed shirts and curated accessories. She has owned the business since 2015 but this is her first Christmas operating from Posie Row, a popular holiday shopping spot in the city.

While Murphy says her store is located at a sought-after destination for those in the festive spirit, she says it does seem like customers have started their shopping a bit behind their usual schedule.

"It has definitely been a late start this year but it seems that this past weekend really has kind of launched it now," said Murphy. "It also seems this year that maybe people are spending less and buying smaller items than typically."

Murphy says people may be spending less because of the rising cost of living, and that those who may be struggling financially are going to be more careful about what they spend their money on this holiday season.

As a business owner, Murphy says the high cost of products isn't lost on her.

Most of her products are handmade, so she says she's fortunate that she hasn't had to drastically change the prices of her products so far. But because of increased shipping costs, she's had to let go of one of her main Christmas products —  silk scarves.

"There are some products I used to sell that I have not brought in this Christmas," said Murphy. "Silk in particular, I used to hand-dye silk scarves and the cost to get them here has risen a lot. So I decided not to bring those in this year."

Although the early bird holiday customers have been a bit slower at getting shopping off their to-do list, Murphy says foot traffic at Yellow Rose has been good so far, with hundreds of customers coming into the Posie Row building every weekend. 

Posie Row owner Jane Manuel says the Christmas season is off to a good start. Manuel says the store has seen lots of familiar faces, along with some new ones, and that there's been a great response to the shop's holiday-themed products.

But she says foot traffic has been down slightly compared with other years and she has noticed the effects of inflation. Costs have gone up in almost every aspect of the business, said Manuel, from shipping and import duties to the cost of the products themselves.

"Everything is costing more and I've been trying to keep prices the same where possible and some have just had to increase. There's no way around it." said Manuel.

"But I'm still trying to do that in as minimal a way as possible.… We have such a wide range of people who visit us. I love the idea that anybody can come through the door and find something that they can afford and that they like. So that's something we really hold tight to."

The Tickle Trunk is another popular gift and souvenir shop on Duckworth Street. Owner Pat Harris says November holiday shopping has been fairly busy so far and he expects the foot traffic to increase as Christmas approaches.

Harris says the price of the Tickle Trunk's products have gone up slightly but that the main hindrance to Christmas sales is the weather, as people have to walk around outside if they want to shop on Duckworth.

"It's an old St. John's tradition to go downtown shopping," said Harris. "Some people still like to go to Avalon Mall because they go in and they're indoors that whole time. Here, you have to kind of go in, you go out, come back in, go out."

The Tickle Trunk is full of different Christmas ornaments, mummer memorabilia, candles and candy.

Despite rising costs and wet weather, Harris said the most important thing for business is to keep all of the Trunk's products sourced from Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Our philosophy is to support as much local [business] as possible," he said. 

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador