Nov. 27—Small business owners along Main Street in Oneonta said they are looking forward to the holiday shopping season.

Deborah Blake, manager at The Artisans Guild at 148 Main St. said the 2020 holiday sales enabled the store to stay open. She said the store, which has been on Main Street for 22 years, has "a lot of faithful customers that come back year after year to do their holiday shopping with us."

The store sells a variety of homemade items including pottery, jewelry, paintings, wood and leather products, essential oils, candles and more by 50 local artisans.

"It's really great more people are shopping local," Blake said. She said she noticed more people were shopping local last year and this year and she is grateful for that as it "keeps the stores on Main Street open."

Nick Toborg at Serenity Hobbies said he was looking forward to the holiday sales and has already seen an increase. "Once November hit, I noticed an increase in sales," he said.

Serenity Hobbies, at 152-154 Main St., sells board games, trading cards, video games, comic books, puzzles, figurines and other merchandise catered to gamers. Toborg said their biggest sellers this year are Pokémon products, video games and board games. The store was having a buy two get one free sale this weekend he said.

Employees at Serenity Hobbies were opening boxes of goods that had just arrived, and Toborg said he was glad he ordered early to avoid the supply chain issues.

"Enough time has passed for all of the important stuff to get here," he said.

Theresa Cyzeski of Theresa's Emporium, at 155 Main St., and Debra North of Razzle Dazzle, at 248 Main Street, also had to wait for some of their supplies to arrive from overseas. North said she received two packages Friday that were delayed from August.

"My Care Bears were swimming in the ocean for weeks," Cyzeski said, jokingly. "They were supposed to be here in the beginning of October and we just got them."

Cyzeski said she has had a very good start to the season. Her store is in the Klugo Park View building, which was the Bresee's Department Store building, she said. The summer Saturday Main Street closures also helped her business this year, she said.

"The holiday season is historically our best season, so we'll see," she said.

Her store sells clothing, gourmet mixes, toys, yarn, primitives and more, she said. In addition, the store sells ice cream and has a monthly calendar of events listed on the store's website. In December, Mrs. Claus will make an appearance three times to read to children. In the front window is a handmade carousel Cyzeski's husband, David, made.

North, 84, reopened Razzle Dazzle in August after being closed since March 2020, and requires patrons to wear a mask while inside the store. She has six signs on her front door and one behind the counter asking people to wear their mask. Most of the stores along Main Street are requiring patrons to wear masks while inside their stores.

While she was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, North said she knitted scarves that are for sale in her shop and made necklaces. A person who spends $20 at her store will receive a free necklace while supplies last, she said. Most of the items she sells during the holidays are "stocking stuffers," she said. Razzle Dazzle sells kitchen items, toys, jewelry and candles. Because she was closed last year, she doesn't know how this year's holiday season will be. She opened Razzle Dazzle 46 years ago, she said.

Elizabeth Raphaelson has owned Underground Attic for seven years, with five years at the current location at 273 Main St. The shop sells several items including vintage clothing, which Raphaelson mends, candles, bath bombs and jewelry. She said last year 60% of her holiday sales were jewelry. She sells some local artisan items and said candlemakers were having a hard time getting jars to pour their wax into. She said she "ordered early enough so they should have enough in stock for the holiday shopping season."

She said last year, Black Friday was her busiest day, while Shop Small Saturday wasn't that busy. This year, she will have wrapped ornaments and people who buy something Saturday will receive an ornament. Inside is a percentage off the order or a gift certificate, she said. Sunday she was going to have a live sale on the store's Instagram site.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.