Kamloops businesses see surge in sales over holiday period

“We haven’t really looked over everything, but it was fairly busy. Traffic seems to always be driving up and down Tranquille, which is good. The door was always busy and people were coming in.” said Dean Hicks, a co-owner of Interior Crafts and Hobbies.

Brick-and-mortar store owners say they’re seeing more customers choosing to head into their stores over their online counterparts.

“I was talking to one of our customers not that long ago and he said, ‘I’ll do anything to get off my screen.’ He just wants to go out and do stuff. He wants to have a hobby, a physical hobby. We’re seeing this resurgence and people are getting bored with screen time and wanting to read an actual book or paint a model,” said Nick Klie, manager at High Octane Comics.

“We don’t have an online website. We rely on the foot traffic and customers, the repeat customers that are loyal to us, that come in all the time and they will shop from us and not buy online,” said Hicks.

Tumbleweed Toys owner Vanessa Gammel attributes part of her store’s sales increase to the closure of a nearby big box retailer.

“Every year we have growth, and every year we have plans for growth, so I do see that 2026 will be another year. That’s good for us,” said Gammel.

Stores like Far and Wide say this year, many customers were also shopping for a community experience.

“It’s great to see more and more people supporting local and supporting independent businesses coming downtown. This year, we saw an increased interest in a lot of the events we hosted. Things like our holiday ‘sip and shop’ or our wreath-making workshops, which I think is a wonderful way to, also, support local besides just shopping,” said Duncan.

While many businesses saw an increase in sales, stores say that they hope more members of the community will consider them for 2026.

by Curtis Goodrum

Kamloops businesses see surge in sales over holiday period

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