C.O. stores see a return to more familiar holiday weekend crowds, and the hunt for big deals

(Update: Adding video, comment from store owners)

'We’ve seen people really excited to come out and be in person, shopping in the stores.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The holiday shopping season is off and running.

Many retailers and stores around the country welcomed a more "normal" Thanksgiving weekend.

For Central Oregon shops, that means deals and crowded stores.

This weekend was one of the most important for Angela Salido and her store, Outside In.

“We will sell more some time in these two days then we might in two weeks in January,” Salido told NewsChannel 21 on Monday.

Last year, the downtown Bend shop didn’t have that same level of traffic.

“We barely made it by,” Salido recalled.

She said online gift certificate sales helped them along, but this year was more normal.

“We’ve seen people really excited to come out and be in person, shopping in the stores,” Salido said.

Up river, in the Old Mill District, Matt Perry, saw the same thing at Savory Spice.

“We definitely saw an increase over last year, and it felt a lot more like 2019 shopping,” the shop owner said.

Perry credits some of the increase in traffic to the return of some of the Old Mill’s events, like Sunday’s Hanukkah menorah lighting and Friday’s Santa Land opening.

Beau Eastes, the Old Mill’s marketing director said, “We’ve been limited in some of those things over the last 18 months, so we’re really excited to bring those back.”

On Monday, most deals from major retailers shifted online for Cyber Monday, but it’s not as big of a deal for small businesses like Perry’s and Salido’s.

“Our big deals are Black Friday weekend, and I think we see a little bit of slow down on Cyber Monday,” Perry said.

Salido added, “People are just hyper-focused on massive deals that we just can’t even offer.”

Even without big in-person traffic as folks returned to work on Monday, the weekend gives Salido optimism for the rest of the year.

“What we really hope is that the momentum will continue into the holidays,” she said.

Both Salido and Perry said they were thankful for all the support from local shoppers both over the last several months, and this holiday weekend.