The cold weather was tough for some vendors on the last day of D.C.’s 2022 Downtown Holiday Market in the Penn Quarter area, which opened a week before Thanksgiving.
Some vendors said that fewer customers came out because of the wet and cold weather, and that many stands packed up earlier than the official 8 p.m. close time.
Need to get some last-minute holiday shopping done in DC? The Holiday Market is still open! One small business owner said a lot of vendors left early because of the cold weather but those that remain still seeing decent demand @wtop pic.twitter.com/wzamG92Wh2
— Stetson Miller (@stetsonmreports) December 23, 2022
“Because of the weather, people closed Wednesday,” said Emma Ladram of Tunisian Touch Artisan Home Goods.
Many vendor stands were not open when WTOP visited the market Friday afternoon.
Ladram said her business’s profits were down this year because of the weather.
“This year is not like we’re imagining,” she said.
Tenisha Dotstry, owner of Fair Winds Candle Company, said business was still steady for her on Friday, as she saw some dedicated shoppers on her final afternoon at the market.
“The weather is definitely holding some people back, but the people that are out are really dedicated to shopping local,” Dotstry said.
Lakeisha Henry of The DC Pop-Up, the group responsible for the holiday market, was not expecting many people to shop on the stand she was hosting, but said it got busy later in the day.
“We weren’t expecting as much sales,” Henry said. “But there were a lot of last-minute shoppers that came out.”
Joseph Burley was one of those shoppers, and he said it was worth coming out in the cold to find a good gift.
“If you layer up properly and come out here and support these small businesses, that’s all about the spirit,” Burley said. “Get a nice gift for somebody that’s unique, hard to find.”
