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Lehigh Valley Live: Holiday huts fill Bethlehem’s downtown in effort to boost sales
November 15th, 2021 | In The News
Written by Pamela Sroka-Holzmann for Lehigh Valley Live
Holiday-themed wooden huts are once again in lining Bethlehem’s downtown area, in hopes of bringing in more foot traffic this season.
Guests can find this year’s huts, which comprise Christmas City Village, along Main Street at Central Moravian Church, the 1750 Smithy, and outside Hotel Bethlehem’s conference center. More than a dozen huts are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays from now until Dec. 26.
Vendors and artisans include Steel City Plant Co., PH Secrets, Franklin Hill Vineyards and Social Still Distillery. Among the wares are soaps, handcrafted holiday decor, food items, candles and pet supplies.
Tammy Wendling, downtown Bethlehem manager, previously told lehighvalleylive.com some city businesses continue to face financial struggles amid the coronavirus pandemic. Some merchants reported after last year’s holiday season being down as much as 50% in sales.
Business owners hope to recoup some of the loss in sales this year, said Laurie Monteforte, a spokeswoman for the city’s downtown.
Neville Gardner, owner of Donegal Square on Main Street, said the huts are designed to add a little holiday flair to the downtown while at the same time, draw more foot traffic into the Christmas City’s shops.
“Since Bethlehem has such a dramatic and European feel, it certainly fits to have our Christmas huts on the street,” he said.
Angela DelGrosso, owner of Steel City Plant Co. and senior vice president of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, said the huts bring high festive energy to the downtown.
“Every business benefits whenever we can bring more people to town,” she said.
The huts have been around in some capacity since Christkindlmarkt relocated in 2011 to the SteelStacks campus on Southside. For 18 years prior to that, Christkindlmarkt was located along Main Street, nestled alongside the historic Moravian buildings that make up the Colonial Industrial Quarter under the Hill-to-Hill Bridge.
Main Street then added its own Christmas City Village as an added holiday draw for seasonal shoppers.
The huts are located along Main Street at Central Moravian Church, the 1750 Smithy, and outside Hotel Bethlehem’s conference center. They are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays from now until Dec. 26, 2021.
This year, the Bethlehem Chamber at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce additionally is moving up the city’s annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in an effort to help boost business. The ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19 — a week early from the traditional Black Friday event.
The move, chamber representatives said, connects all the holiday traditions in the same week — Christmas City Village, Christkindlmarkt, and the holiday events being conducted by the Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Christkindlmarkt, entering its 29th year, opens on Bethlehem’s Southside starting on Nov. 19, offering holiday shopping and fun every weekend until Dec. 19.
“We know that with the national supply chain crisis, more people are shopping early and shopping local,” Wendling had said.
Brick-and-mortar sites are expected to gain a boost this holiday season due to the supply-chain crisis and shoppers wanting to get out of the house after last year’s COVID-19 isolation, business experts predict. Retail analysts from Bain, Deloitte and Mastercard all predict good tidings for retailers with sales rising at least 7% over last year.
The huts are located along Main Street at Central Moravian Church, the 1750 Smithy, and outside Hotel Bethlehem’s conference center. They are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays from now until Dec. 26, 2021.
