How have your customers' buying habits changed over the last few months?

Christmas was a challenge, especially for our high-end porcelain and crystal. Many of our loyal clientele were very cautious and purchased in the solid middle of the lines. It was quite a dramatic change, and in response we are buying like crazy. We have at least 30 new lines that might not have been here a year ago, such as bath and body, purses, candles, even leather trunks and mirrors. We want our customers coming to us not only for the standards that have made us famous, such as Waterford, Lladro, Armani, and Herend, but also for a whole new category of impulse items. One of the surprises for me has been that January and February have had a ripple of upper-end sales, and I'm hoping that ripple will continue.

Because of September 11, we actually got more foot traffic. Carmel is a tourist town, and people came because they wanted to drive, not fly. Gifts flew off the shelves because unlike furniture they can go into a suitcase or the back of an SUV. Our sales numbers were up 35 percent. Though we are a serious, upscale store, I try to find items with humor, and that's the stuff we couldn't keep in stock at Christmas. We did better with contemporary items and "what you get for the person who has everything," than with the candles and things you would normally expect to sell. In the first quarter people hold off until they figure out their taxes, so lower-cost items are selling. Big-ticket items just sit around making the little stuff look good.

Fewer of my core customers ordered custom-printed holiday cards this year. I found an increase in journals, general greeting, and thinking-of-you cards. Our "quotable" products with philosophical verses have also picked up. Anything that values thoughtfulness appeals, because people are savoring those around them. Wedding show attendance is up even over the millennium brides of 2000, and we are seeing very strong wedding sales so far this year. We had a great December as far as small gifts go. I've talked to people and they said they're trying to cut back, but because our price point for gifts is $20 or less we haven't been affected. January was as good as last year, if not better, and this month is starting out incredibly strong.

Our collectible business stayed fairly strong. But people bought larger single ticket items: We were having more success selling $100 items than four or five $20 ones. Our traffic in the fall is always strong, and we benefited because people who were supposed to fly somewhere chose to drive up here instead. There was definitely more red, white, and blue, but we didn't get into it heavily. Candles remained strong as always. Tree ornaments, especially glass ones, were down a little, and general tabletop was down from previous years. On the other hand, Byers' Choice collectible carolers have done better this year than they have in the last three or four. There was more interest in our custom-decorated wreaths than usual. People wanted something special.