By DREW GRANTHUM/Staff Writer

Businesses across Chilton County are seeing an influx of customers this holiday shopping season, due in part to a campaign put on by the Chilton County Chamber of Commerce.

Shop Local is the Chamber’s campaign to encourage residents of Chilton County to stay in the county to purchase gifts and goods. Chamber executive assistant Brittani Ellison said the program is in its second year, after being revamped from a similar program the chamber previously sponsored.

“Last year we revisited the program,” she said. “(We’re) just trying to remind people to look inside the county.”
Ellison said that part of the program included signs posted in the store windows of local businesses as well as advertisements for the program being placed on billboards in the county.

For a pair of new businesses, the campaign appears to be paying dividends. Boyd’s Place, which opened in December 2013, is a Christian-based educational and church supply store and gift shop in Clanton.

Owner Angie Sanderson said that while handling the Christmas shopping crowd got hectic at times, overall the store enjoyed the rush.

“It’s going great,” she said. “Our biggest seller so far has been Bibles, which is a blessing.”
While having celebrated the store’s one-year anniversary on Dec. 7, Sanderson said she could tell a difference in terms of traffic from last year to this shopping season.

“Definitely busier this year,” she said. “We’ve been on Facebook all year.”

Sanderson said the business had sold several Bibles and devotionals, along with items such as jewelry and home décor.

She said she felt communicating with customers through social media helped expand the brand as well.

“We do a countdown to Christmas giveaway and a discount every day. We’ll have gift-type things (and) we’ve given away some books, some jewelry, just different things every day that we post on Facebook, and it’s different every day.”
The store also changes the type of discounts and incentives offered regularly, she said.

“We’ve run a different discount every day this week,” she said in a Dec. 19 interview. “Last week, all week was 20 percent off devotionals, but this week, we’ve run a different discount1 every day, which I think has been kind of fun for customers, because they’ve kind of had to plan which day they’re going to come. For example, today is 10-percent off Bibles, plus you get a free name imprint on your Bible. The name imprint has been very popular.”

As the demand for store items increase, Sanderson said Boyd’s would cater to the customers’ needs.

“Typically, we’re Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday is 10-2,” she said. “Here recently is we’re open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, we’ve been open to six.”

This week, the store will be open through Christmas Eve, with Tuesday hours being 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Christmas Eve hours running from 10 a.m. -4 p.m.

Another new business is that of Clanton’s Trendy Chic Boutique, owned by Marshell Wilson.

The business opened its doors in Nov. 2014, and while Wilson said she didn’t have experience with the holiday shopping season, she hasn’t had a problem so far.

“I don’t really know what to expect,” she said. “As far as I know, things have been going really well. We’ve been getting a lot of people coming in shopping for Christmas gifts.”

Store manager Melissa Glenn said part of the enjoyment of running the store has been helping the customers coming in.

“It’s been fun,” she said. “The fun part is, this is a women’s (specialty) store, and we get a lot of guys come in here, and they kind of let us shop for them for their wives.”

While shopping for the holidays can often be stereotyped as a mad rush, Wilson said the store has yet to have any issues.

“People seem to be in the spirit of giving,” she said. “Everybody’s excited. We haven’t had any bad experiences. Everybody comes in a really good mood, and excited to spend money.”

Wilson said the hot item for the store has been girls’ clothes, with the those in the community making up a great majority of their customers.

“It’s been local,” she said. “We get a lot of support from the schools. Right now we’re just operating off of Facebook and word-of-mouth.”

The store doesn’t have any specials going on to coincide with the holidays,

Hibbett Sports in Clanton has seen its share of community support, manager Amber Bowman said.

“It really hasn’t gotten crazy until this week,” she said on Dec. 19. “I feel like lately, a lot more people are staying local. Especially this season compared to last season. I feel a lot more are (staying) local as opposed to, say, going to Prattville.”

Bowman said the chance to keep money within the county, be it with a locally-owned store or just one located there, was a win-win.

“It’s not just a good thing for us as a company; it’s a good thing for the city as well,” she said. “It means a lot that people come here instead of going to the new place in Alabaster.”
Bowman also said the store’s main special sales were that all collegiate items were 20 percent off.

She also said the late Christmas shopping rush didn’t come on Christmas Eve, necessarily.

“It’s definitely the 23^rd,” she said. “Last year we did tremendous.”

For MorLyn’s owner Ann Glasscock, the Christmas shopping rush hasn’t been much a rush at all — in a good way.

“Well, it’s been a great Christmas. They’ve taken it pretty easy on us; they’ve kept it slow and steady instead of a huge crowd at one time. Right now, we are ahead of where we are this time last December, so I think that’s encouraging.

Glasscock said the store’s biggest sellers were the bar necklace, diamond earrings and Cerelli high-end fashion jewelry.

MorLyn’s is also continuing its special rifle sale; that is, if a customer spends $2,500 or more in the store, they automatically receive a gun.

Glasscock said the promotion was the brainchild of her husband, Tommy.

“My husband, who thinks way out side the box, just wanted to do some wild crazy promotion,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine (it) really affecting our sales, but it really has. People will come in and say, ‘Show me what I have to do to get the rifle,’ and many of the ones who have gotten one are regular customers, but they might not have typically spent that much, so they spend a little more to get the rifle.”

She was also quick to praise the Shop Local campaign.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the Chamber’s Shop Local campaign has truly helped,” she said. “I have heard a lot of customers say ‘I’m trying my best to do all my shopping locally this time.’ They had to get that thought from somewhere.”

From the Chamber’s end, Ellison said it was about bringing the shops and shoppers together.

“It’s about uniting the community with local businesses,” she said. “There are a lot of unique shops (here) that you might not have to leave the county (to buy what you need).”