Palm Springs businesses see uptick in sales over Fourth of July
With some cancellations of firework shows, people found ways to celebrate and many businesses in downtown Palm Springs were cashing in on the boost of foot traffic.
“For Fourth of July, they were okay," said Don Kick, owner of Running Wild. "Obviously its been a slow season.”
Don Kick is the owner of Running Wild, a shoe shop in Palm Springs. He said business is far off what it would normally be for the holiday weekend.
“This kinda seems to be the trend 30 to 40 percent of normal business right now, " said Kick. "It’s still a slow recovery.”
At Peppa's gift shop, owner Jeff Witthuhn offers a more favorable report.
"This was our best week since we reopened on memorial weekend," said Witthuhn . "We definitely saw a nice pick-up in business in the morning and then it kinda of died down during the day when it was 115 degrees out and then it picked back up again in the evening.”
Witthuhn said compared to last weekend his sales this weekend are up 20 percent and he's noticing customers coming from L.A., San Diego, O.C. and San Francisco.
“People seem really excited to just be out and interacting everybody’s been in face masks, which is really important to myself and our employees so that's been great to see too," said Witthuhn.
The manager at El Patron, Gina Gonzales, said they're seeing a steady stream of customers celebrating the holiday.
“This weekend alot of out- of- town people," said Gonzales. "They were quite surprised how busy it was but they were glad to see us open.”
Gonzales said some customers had to be reminded of facial coverings and social distancing.
“We had some small issues thats like anywhere but overall people were complying once I expressed the urgency and the necessity to keep everybody safe and they understood," said Gonzales.
“It definitely gives me hope that this season is still kind of here we are having great weekends," said Paris Kessinger, owner of Crazy Mel's restaurant."Code enforcement has been here to support and show us education.”
