ST AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Christmas may have come and gone, but for St Augustine it is still the most wonderful time of the year. " It's one of our favorite places during the holidays. It's a nice place to celebrate," said Marsha Kibler.
This past week is usually one of the busiest for businesses there. And families like Marsha Kibler's who are visiting for the weekend are expected to make this season better. "We are going to do some ice skating in Anastasia Island. And we are going to do some shopping in some of our favorite little stores on St George Street," said Kibler.
"There are like tons of people who keep coming in especially on Fridays and Saturdays," said Del Sol Sales Associate, Rosa Fallon.
Del Sol is one of the newest stores in the nation's oldest city. "Everything in our store changes color in the sun. So it's pretty cool," said Fallon.
But that's not the only color change they expect to see. They say the sales they have made in the past seven days usually turns any red in their budget to black. "For a lot of time this makes up about 50-percent of our profit during the holidays. So it's really important for us especially since we are a new business," said Fallon.
Business owners here say how well they do this weekend usually sets the tone for the rest of the year. And Kibler is just glad she can be a part of it. "It's all about survival. The economy is hard. So to be able to come and spread some of the wealth here is nice," said Kibler.
It's a business boost coming from two extra days that will help stores well into the New Year. City officials won't know exactly how well they did this holiday until sometime in mid-January.
