Ancillary sales rise with steins at Oktoberfest

Consumers nabbed more clothes off the racks. The local tobacco shop sold more cigars. One retailer hosted a beer kegger, of which two kegs were nearly depleted.

Oktoberfest, a two-day event that drew nearly 2,000 people to downtown Coeur d’Alene this past weekend, boosted ancillary businesses up and down Sherman Avenue.

“I would say we had a higher flow of traffic,” Natasha Sizemore, manager of Coeur d’Alene Clothing Company, said of event foot traffic. “A lot of people were happily shopping around.”

With customers sporting feathered hats and lederhosen leather breeches, Sizemore said Coeur d’Alene Clothing saw a 28% uptick in sales this past weekend compared to the prior weekend, “when it was cold and rainy.”

The folk and beer festival, now in its 18th year, offered over 30 local craft beers, ciders, and Oktoberfest favorites. Meanwhile, 16 local businesses participated in providing food samples, beverages and themed decor.

“It definitely helped put a spotlight on us,” Sizemore said. “And it brings out the locals here more often.”

The layout of this year’s Oktoberfest was slightly different from years past, according to observations from Susan and Brett Sommer, owners of Figpickels Toy Emporium. They noticed that this year’s biergartens were spread out rather than concentrated in one spot downtown.

According to the Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association, three biergartens were hosted in separate locations throughout the downtown area. These included one at Rotary Centennial Park, one on Lakeside Avenue behind Bier Haus, and one toward the western part of downtown.

“This was our best year ever,” Susan Sommer said. “I love how they spread all the biergartens over the area.”

According to the Sommers, who have owned their downtown shop for 22 years, spreading biergartens out this year cut down on trouble caused by alcohol consumption. Susan Sommer said she didn’t hear “as many complaints from the shop owners this year.”

“I’ve thrown people out of the toy store,” Brett Sommer said of previous Oktoberfests. “We can’t have drunk people in here.”

In addition to the biergartens, many businesses in the downtown area hosted “pop-up pubs,” where they’d use their brick-and-mortar locations to offer things like beers, ciders, entertainment and snacks.

T-Blue Boutique plunked not one but two kegs inside the shop this past weekend. The suds helped incentivize increased shopping, according to boutique employee Kenna Lamas.

“I felt like it went really well,” she said. “We gained a lot of traffic for the day.”

Lamas said, as summer comes to an end, she’s seen a slowdown in Coeur d’Alene’s tourist season. This past weekend, however, resembled “peak August numbers.”

“Our sales were incredible,” Lamas said. 

Down the street, Coeur d'Alene Pipe & Cigar also saw positive results from Oktoberfest ancillary shoppers.

According to Scott Myers, the store’s manager, sales increased about 30%.

Myers also said Coeur d’Alene Pipe & Cigar sold a few hundred more cigars, with My Father Cigars being the most popular purchase over the weekend.

Myers summarized the weekend as being “surprisingly good.” 

“The numbers have been real steady,” he said of sales. “Typically, they fall off after Labor Day weekend.” 

    Natasha Sizemore works inside downtown's Coeur d’Alene Clothing Company on Monday.
  

    Many came dressed for Friday's Oktoberfest celebration in downtown Coeur d'Alene, from left: Gary Hartman, Sue Hartman, Derik Lavers, Shelley McGinley and Jake McGinley.