Lee County, Iowa. (WGEM) – A Donaldson, Iowa farm has seen a surge in holiday shoppers.
Purchasing a Christmas tree from Harvestville Farm has become a tradition for the Jessica Shuman family.
“We’ve been coming to Harvestville every year for the past few years to get a new Christmas tree,” Schuman said. “We love the smell of real trees, they’re so beautiful, and today was one of those days.”
Every Black Friday for the past five years, she and her three kids have stocked up on their holiday essentials before heading home to decorate.
Harvestville Farm staff said the Shumans, like many other families in Lee County, bought their trees the day after Thanksgiving.
Harvestville Farm co-owner Julie Hohl said their winter sales were up 11 per cent this year compared to last year.
“People are really coming back to the flow [of] The past COVID thing, you can definitely see it picking up,” Hall said.
She expects business at their retail store, Harvestville Mercantile, to resume Saturday for Small Business Day as well.
She said farms and stores typically do well on Black Friday, but she expects most of their weekend shopping profits to come from Fort Madison.
“When we close here over Christmas, we get really busy in there, especially after New Years, because people come in maybe for a post-holiday sale or something they’re arguing about for the season and want it still in store , so it’s still very, very popular with us,” Hall said.
Small Business Saturday allowed Harvestville Mercantile to build on financial success while the farm was closed, Hohl said.
Click here to learn more about the farm and business.
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