Small businesses reflect on foot traffic during holiday shopping season in St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Recent reports from online marketing company Constant Contact found that many small businesses generate a significant portion of their yearly revenue during the holiday shopping season alone.

Here in St. Joseph, this rings somewhat true as businesses reflect on the 2025 holiday shopping season. Some see the frequency of sales vary between the holidays and other times of year, sometimes widely.

One of those businesses, Seventh Street Cafe, actually experienced 25 to 30% of their net sales in the spring as opposed to the winter last year. From April to December of 2025, Seventh Street Cafe saw a 19% increase in sales, with a contributing factor in December coming from the nine events the cafe catered.

Owner Brennon Calvin explained how he thinks inclement weather paired with affordability during the holiday season has impacted local businesses.

"I think being downtown has a lot to do with the foot traffic pattern. When the weather's nice outside, it brings more people out to shop during the holidays where as when it's cold or snowing, people don't want to get out and walk around downtown," Calvin said. "We're probably getting more business from our core customers (during the holidays). The heavy hand of the affordability is people are probably prioritizing travel and gifts when it comes to spending money over going out to restaurants."

Another local business, Alchemy Tea, saw a majority of their revenue come less from merchandise and more from their tea-based products.

"Honestly, not a lot of people bought our merchandise from wholesale companies. They bought our drinks, our loose leaf tea that we packaged and gift cards," Alchemy Tea Manager Hannah Quinton said. "I think people thought local items would be a better gift versus wholesale merchandise."

Quinton also noted that sales were almost evenly split last year between the summer and winter.

As the calendar turns to 2026, local businesses will hope to maintain a steady presence.