The holiday shopping season is over and just like many were stressing to get their shopping completed, businesses in Downtown San Luis Obispo were also worried about meeting their sales goals.
According to the National Retail Federation retail sales were expected to grow between 3.8 and 4.2 percent from last year.
Fortunately for many Dowtown SLO merchants, they say they met or surpassed their sale quotas.
"I'm up about five percent over last year," said Kal Kastenek, owner of Sports Forum.
"We actually were able to match last year's sales just with a slight increase, but it all happened within five days of Christmas. I am grateful," said Christine Branco, owner of Unique Selections.
Both store owners say they expected more customers walking through their doors the first couple weeks of December, but that did not turn out to be the case.
They believe factors like online shopping and the rainy weather could have led people to shop later than usual.
"Regardless, it doesn't matter. The shoppers showed up, downtown was bustling and I think everyone was really joyous and positive," said Branco.
With the holidays and 2019 coming to an end, many businesses are preparing for a slower start to the new year.
"People are experiencing credit card trauma a bit and they are just slowing things down," said Branco.
"People also get burned out of spending and eating and everything else, so we will see how January plays out - but it looks promising," said Kastenek.
While some businesses saw more traffic in their stores, others like the Cal Poly Downtown Store say they saw an increase in online orders.
According to the National Retail Federation more than half of holiday shoppers do their buying the week before Christmas with 62 percent of them hitting the stores on Super Saturday.
