Business & Tech

Downtown Hinsdale Holding First Christmas Open House

Merchants organized the shopping event after the Chamber pushed back the traditional Christmas Walk.

The first-ever Hinsdale Merchant Christmas Open House may take place the Friday after Thanksgiving, but don’t call it a Black Friday event.

“Nobody’s going to be open at 6 in the morning,” said Anna Vojik, who owns ArtQuest, 49 S. Washington St. “We don’t like to use the Black Friday term and don’t want to put ourselves on the same level.”

Vojik and Jessica Lederhausen, owner of at 39 S. Washington St., organized the inaugural Open House, which will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at 30 downtown Hinsdale businesses. Participating retailers will offer promotions for the day and for the season to customers who Vojik said are those who want to stay away from Wal-Mart and area malls on the busiest shopping day of the year.

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Vojik’s ArtQuest is cutting prices 10 percent storewide Friday. Items listed at $100 or more are 20 percent off.  Stockholm Objects is offering $20 off any purchase of $100 or more; the is offering six assorted bottles of wine for $49; is cutting prices of its entire jewelry selection by 20 percent.

“It’s kind of up to each merchant how they’re going to promote their business on that day,” Vojik said.

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At each location, customers will also be able to pick up free bags filled with coupons for participating businesses usable beyond Friday. , for example, is offering 10 percent off purchases through Dec. 31 while is offering 20 percent off between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28.

Vojik and Lederhausen organized Friday's event independent of the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce. The Economic Development Commission (EDC) put together a few banners for the event that are hanging around town. 

For the last 45 years, the Friday after Thanksgiving in Hinsdale was reserved for the Chamber of Commerce’s Christmas Walk. back one week to Dec. 2 because of declining attendance it attributed to residents being out of town.

Business owners expressed frustration with the Chamber at the time. Vojik said the initial reaction came from business owners' resistance to change.

“After 46 years, a change like that, you just don’t know what to expect,” Vojik said. “So we are all a little afraid of changes, but now hopefully both events will stimulate the business.”

Chamber of Commerce executive director Jan Anderson said she too thinks the Open House and the Christmas Walk can compliment one another.

“Anybody who’s making any effort to support the Hinsdale business community we are wholeheartedly in favor of,” Anderson said.

EDC chairman John Karstrand was once the chairman of the Chamber's Christmas Walk committee and said the Christmas walk is a way to thank customers for their business and introduce their shops to new customers.

"It has never been about deals and shopping and getting the registers to ring," Karstrand said.

He said this year's setup, with the two events, allows merchants to go after that additional revenue.   

"It’s going to open up that Friday after Thanksgiving to let merchants focus on shoppers and ringing those cash registers," Karstrand said.  

Vojik confirmed the Open House is directly aimed at people interested in buying.

“We want to focus more on the shopping so more people come to the village and discover how many unique little shops we have and how charming the town is and so they can spend a few bucks,” Vojik said.

Vojik said she and Lederhausen have recruited more businesses than they expected the first year. She expects they will have another Open House in 2012 and hopes it becomes a yearly tradition.

Karstrand said the EDC would likely play a bigger support role for the event in future years; it couldn't play a big role this year, Karstrand said, because of timing issues and the relatively short-notice nature of the Open House.


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