Holiday Business Report

Businesses across Hampton Bays, Westhampton Beach and East Quogue said they faired well this past holiday season.

"I was actually surprised," said Terry Lucas, owner of The Open Book in Westhampton Beach.  "Sales exceeded my expectations."

Lucas said that though the popularity of book-readers, such as the Nook and Kindle are on the rise, there were still a great number of customers stopping in to purchase books as gifts. 

Most popular, she said were works of non-fiction, including the Autobiography of Mark Twain and George Bush's Decision Points. 

"There is something about holding a book in your hand," said Lucas, "especially when it comes to Mark Twain's Autobiography where there are photos and letters in his own hand-writing to see."

Paul Severna, owner of Hampton Wine Shoppe in Westhampton Beach also reported high holiday sales.

"We did pretty well.  Sales were similar to last holiday season," he said.

The only difference, he said was that the store's Internet sales increased over last year.

"I haven't looked at the exact numbers yet, but I would say we did much better," he said.

Maria Cable, manager of Mustique in Westhampton Beach, reported similarly:  "We had a good holiday season. We were slightly up over last year."

Over the holiday season, Cable said the store sold a lot of cashmere.

Elyse Richman, owner of Shock in Westhampton Beach, said her sales were also better than expected.

"The last two weeks were better than last year," said Richman. "The snow hurt us, but the rest of the week was great for us. Now, reality sets in for January and February, which allows us to gear up for the coming season."

Over in East Quogue, Kirsten Montgomery, owner of Sandy Toes Children's Boutique said she is already starting to gear up for the coming months, offering 25-35 percent discounts on just about everything in her shop.  She says she hopes that by offering the sale customers will continue to come in just as they did during the holidays.

"We did very well," she said.  "Even people that don't shop here regularly were coming in to buy Christmas outfits and toys. It was great."

In Hampton Bays, Barbara Cascia, owner of said she hasn't yet gone through her numbers yet, but said that she could say "with assurances" that "business was excellent throughout the entire holiday season."

"We try to make it easier for our customers here.  We want to see a lot of happy, smiley faces.  We do not want anyone to leave or come back unhappy," she said.

Throughout the holiday season, Cascia said the store sole a lot of scarves, wraps, bags and pretty much anything with beads on it.

"We sold a lot of bling-bling," she said.

At the 12-year-old store, owner Monika Straka and partner Debbie Girgenti, who have been friends ever since they can remember, said their store "did really good this holiday season."

"I was pleasantly surprised," said Straka. "I didn't think we would do as good as we did. We are up from last year."

Straka believes part of the store's success this holiday season was its consignment.

"People out here visiting, were picking up pack and plays and exersausers," she said.

The storm also helped as she sold a number of snow jackets. 

"They flew off the shelves," she said and added, "and what's nice is that customers are still coming in."

Local reports seem to be inline with national spending this past holiday season. According to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which tracked consumer spending over the holidays, reported this week that from October 31 to December 24, US customers "spent an estimated $36.4 billion, which is a 15 percent increase over the 2009 holiday season."