Businesses hiring for busy holiday season

In anticipation of a busy holiday season, extra sets of hands are starting to appear at local businesses.   

National chains and small businesses already are hiring and training seasonal workers to serve the influx of customers that typically starts around Thanksgiving. 

Rosalyn Housley, owner of Rustic Rose Home Accents & Gifts and Rustic Rose Fashion Boutique in Brownwood, is hiring extra staff this month and will add more later so everyone is trained for the holiday rush. 

Bringing on extra employees helps Housley offer a more personal shopping experience.

“We’re very much a customer service shop,”Housley said. “It’s not, ‘Walk around and pick up what you like.’”

Seasonal workers provide an extra layer of support during a time that gets busier every year.

Shoppers spent about $936.3 billion last November and December, which was a 5.3% increase from holiday sale numbers in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation.

Last year’s Thanksgiving weekend, which includes Black Friday, about 196.7 million people shopped in stores or online, a new record for the weekend, according to the NRF. The year before in 2021, about 179.8 million people shopped during that weekend.

Planning Starts Early

Gifts & More at The Paper Store, which has locations in Lake Sumter Landing and La Plaza Grande, recently put out holiday items that customers already are snatching up. It is a sign for what’s to come as Thanksgiving and Christmas near, said Lisa Coski, manager of the Lake Sumter Landing location.

Coski doesn’t see the momentum slowing down.

“I think it will just keep increasing,” she said. “As The Villages is increasing their homes, and as they keep selling, we keep increasing our business, which is great.”

Gifts & More at The Paper Store locations sell greeting cards, ornaments and other items that are popular around the holidays. The company is starting the process of hiring seasonal workers for November and December.

“It’s the very biggest season we have,” said Mary Jo Rainnes, manager of the La Plaza Grande location.

The La Plaza Grande store will have only a couple extra people because it is smaller, but about 30% more staff are hired for the holidays at the Lake Sumter Landing location, Coski said, to help with stocking and customer service.

“It’s all about being there to help your customer find what they’re looking for,” Coski said.

Edible Arrangements, which offers edible gifts such as fruit bouquets, is busiest during holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. However, business also gets busy enough around Thanksgiving and Christmastime that the local store in Southern Trace Plaza hires more people for the season.

Owners Becky Pilipow and Rachelle Neck usually bring in 10 to 25 more people during the holiday season to assist with production and deliveries.

“Our products cannot be made ahead of time,” Neck said. “If we have 200 orders (in a day), our normal staff just can’t handle that.”

The owners usually add new staff about two weeks before each major holiday.

Neck expects Christmas and Thanksgiving to be just as busy as past years and hopes everything runs smoothly, she said.

Housley said she is noticing an increase in residents around the community.

“We are already seeing the traffic pick up,” she said.

Seasonal employees also help Housley in January, February and March, which is her busiest time of the year, but based on how many people are shopping in her stores right now, Housley expects a flurry of shoppers in November and December.

“I can already tell,” she said.

A Nationwide Challenge

Online holiday shopping has •become increasingly popular, and big companies such as Amazon are hiring thousands of seasonal employees to help with the inevitable onslaught of orders.

Consumers spent $261.6 billion through online shopping and other non-store sales, such as catalogs, last year during the November to December shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation. It was a 9.5% increase from the 2021 holiday shopping season.

Amazon plans to hire 250,000 people in full-time and part-time capacities for seasonal fulfillment center and transportation roles in preparation for the holidays, according to an Amazon news release.

“The holiday season is always a special time at Amazon, and we’re excited to hire 250,000 additional people this year to help serve customers across the country,” said John Felton, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, in a statement.

UPS recently announced plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers. The company will hire for full-time and part-time seasonal positions for delivery drivers, commercial drivers and package handlers.

“We’re looking forward to delivering yet another leading on-time performance this holiday season and helping thousands of workers kick off their UPS careers in the process,” said Nando Cesarone, executive vice president and president of the U.S. division, in a statement.

Senior writer Summer Jarro can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5404, or summer.jarro@thevillagesmedia.com.