Melanie Dallas, owner of Sloppy Kisses, said her holiday season started very strong.

“The snowstorms really hurt, but I had a great last weekend,” Dallas said.

Roger Goldsmith, owner of Crafters Gallery, said his Christmas season was slightly soft this year, but his fourth quarter numbers as a whole are down a bit. He said there was a push towards the end of the season as men did a lot of their shopping.

“Everyone is feeling that,” Goldsmith said. “Little stores and big box stores are feeling that.”

He said a lot of elements are involved - high gas prices and the economy. He added marketing campaigns by some larger companies start too early, which hurts them and small business owners.

“By the Christmas season everyone is shopped out,” he said.

Dallas noticed foot traffic in town was a little lighter than last year, but said the weather and gas prices probably contributed.

“Overall I’m happy with the turnout,” she said. “You can’t do anything about Mother Nature.”

Cathy Burniche, owner of Speck Boutique, said she was down quite a bit from last year’s holiday season. She too contributes the decrease to the economy being bad and high gas prices.

She said she saw a lot of shoppers come in to check things out, but would come back later to make their purchases.

“People were being cautious with their money this year,” she said.

On the plus side, she said her Ed Levin jewelry line did very well throughout the year, but noticed clothing and accessories to drop.

“I think everyone - even big box stores - were down this year,” Burniche said.

Burniche’s Web site was redone during the holidays too, changing to www.shopspeck.com.

“I definitely did more out-of-town shipping this year,” she said. “That kept us alive.”

Burniche said November was really bad for her and since the summer in-store sales have been down.

“I’m optimistic but concerned going through the winter,” she said of entering 2008.

Coming out of the holiday season, Burniche is going to have a sale until New Year’s Eve to make room for new merchandise. She said some of her vendors are feeling the hit too, even to the point of offering her merchandise at a lower price so she can offer it to the customer at a lower price.

As a whole, Goldsmith said 2007 was a good year.

“We had a good summer and fall,” he said. “2007 should end up being a plus year.”

While Goldsmith doesn’t have final numbers he figures to be up and is having some sales until New Year’s Eve to make room for new items.

Dallas said her 2007 was great, up over 2006 numbers (which was her first year in business.)

“I think I’ll continue to see growth and think 2008 will be even better,” she said. “You have to be optimistic.”

Looking ahead, she thinks people will still come downtown, even going into winter. She said business owners know those months are typically slower and have to adjust to it.