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Christmas Scrip loans up for first time in three years

The amount of Christmas Scrip loaned out last year is up by almost 10-percent after being down for three years in a row, according to Christmas Scrip Chairman Don Nevrivy, and the program remains a vital program to the Malta Merchants with Christmas programs.

“Finally, we got off the schneid,” said Nevrivy.

The total amount of Christmas Scrip loaned out in 2015 was $276,163, up from last year’s $254,410. Nevrivy said he wasn’t sure why the increase occurred, but thought it might have had something to do with merchants running deeper discounts earlier in the season.

“One thing I really enjoyed is I went into Hardware Hank the day after Thanksgiving and all the Christmas stuff was 40-percent off,” he said. “I think people are starting to find out that if you follow the national trend and advertise deeper, earlier then it might be better than waiting until after Christmas and making less. That might be a part of it. It was certainly a part I enjoyed.”

Nevrivy, who worked in retail for over 20 years, said that in his days of selling clothing, the thought was always that sales wouldn’t start until closer to Christmas.

“But now, if you wait too long, you might miss it,” he said. “If someone (has better sales) than you are, you are going to miss out and then you are going to end up sitting on the stuff.”

Nevrivy also pointed to Malta Merchants having a wide selection of goods for sale this year for the increase in Christmas Scrip.

“Hopefully we have finally bottomed out on this thing and we will start heading upwards,” he said.

 

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