Maplewood shops break records

Kate Bethel, owner of Maven, said the Saturday before Christmas is always the busiest shopping day of the year. This Saturday, some Maplewood shops saw best days ever.

Vom Fass had its busiest day in five years on Saturday, which is in the middle of the store’s best week ever.

“We got a lot of new people. Maplewood is so attractive to all those people walking up and down the street and they discover all those shops,” Vom Fass owner Anita von Ballmoos said.

She said they’re spending more too.

“Our alcohol just flies off the shelf; I ran out of some products. I had to FedEx them,” von Ballmoos said. “You prepare for the big seller last year, but this year, nobody wants this one, they want something else. I wish I could read peoples’ minds.”

She said she heard Penzeys Spices had a good day too. “We tell a lot of people about Penzey’s, but everybody knows Penzeys.”

Kakao Chocolate had its best day in six years in business on Saturday, and Larder & Cupboard, which opened in early November more than doubled its best day. Michelle Barron, owner of The Book House, which moved to Maplewood from Rock Hill in the end of 2013, said she had her best holiday season in 30 years.

Larder & Cupboard co-owner Cindy Higgerson said Maven sent people to her shop, and she sent them to Larder & Cupboard and Vom Fass and Bolyard’s Meat & Provisions and others.

“People who don’t read Feast and Sauce and 40 South News come to here for one thing and realize they can get all their shopping done in Maplewood,” Higgerson said. “That’s the plan.”