Last minute shoppers packed the Ashland Town Center on Wednesday
Published 12:00 am Sunday, December 27, 2015
ASHLAND, Ky. — While the numbers aren’t in yet, officials at the Ashland Town Center says the 2015 Christmas shopping season was a success.
Mall manager Michelle Adkins hasn’t seen the final sales figures, but she said traffic in the mall had increased over last year.
“It’s been a good season,” she said. “Overall, the mall has done well. Shoppers are pleased. The Santa set has done fantastic.”
Three of the mall’s newest businesses were also pleased with the results.
The Inner Geek, a comic and toy shop, which has been in operation for a year, had expanded to a larger storefront to accommodate more shoppers for the holiday, something staff said had paid off in sales.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” worker Katrina Henney said. “Christmas in this space has been awesome. Comics have had a huge boost, because people come in, see them and realize how awesome they are.”
On the other side of the mall, Go! Calendars and Games had expanded from a seasonal kiosk to a storefront, opening in the fall.
“It’s been really busy,” worker Carlie Reny said. “We’re doing good. We’ve been impressed with our first year.”
Party Animals, a kiosk shop that rents motorized animal carts for customers to ride, has been in operation since Aug. 1.
Manager Ken Artrip said the next-to-last day of shopping Wednesday had seen increasingly busy spurts.
“It’s been coming in waves,” he said.
Artrip said the kiosk is one of two, with the other located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Three locations in New York are planned.
He said the animals have been a hit with shoppers and that he’s been told by mall management that the business has steered a lot of traffic to the mall’s website.
“They’ve made a lot of kids happy,” he said. “Kids ride them, and grandma and grandpa like to ride behind the kids and watch.”