Last week's snowstorm and arctic temperatures made it hard for Faribault Mill to keep its stores open, but it got a break on Christmas Eve — and its flagship store in Faribault was packed until closing.
That rush helped lift the 157-year-old maker of blankets and scarves to the biggest sale month in its modern history, Ross Widmoyer, its chief executive, said this week.
"Our stores were jammed," Widmoyer said. The severe weather "certainly seemed to impact in a positive way our business," he added.
Retailers and apparel makers around Minnesota also said the sub-zero temperatures helped push sales of winter clothing to new holiday heights.
"When that cold hit, it's like a switch is hit," said David Miller, chief executive of Minneapolis-based Minnetonka Moccasin Co.
Weather greatly affects shopping behavior and retailers' ability to move products, said Evan Gold, executive vice president for weather analytics firm Planalytics, on a National Retail Federation podcast last week. An area's geography and people's tolerance for bad weather can play a big part in how they shop and what they buy, he said.
"You get an inch of snow in parts of the south like Atlanta, it can shut the city down," he said. "Versus an inch of snow in a place like Minneapolis, which can actually put customers in a winter mindset and then they are out doing that holiday shopping. They're going to be buying more gifts like boots or sweaters or jackets and gloves."
Even before the storm and cold snap descended on much of the nation last week, retailers were already beginning to see signs for strong demand for winter gear this holiday season.
Macy's chief executive Jeff Gennette told investors during the company's earning call in mid November that cold-weather and outerwear categories like boots, sweaters, and fleece were starting to sell well.
The warmer fall months had been worrying for businesses that sell apparel and footwear, said Toni Nelson, vice president of national sales for Minnetonka.
"There was concern amongst the industry ... because the cold-weather inventory was not moving fast enough," Nelson said. "When it did finally turn, everybody saw the uptick."
Many retailers came into the holiday season with higher inventories of cold-weather gear because of the warm weather. The cold dip, outside of the severe weather that proved dangerous in some areas, was a welcome development, she said.
Sales for Minnetonka slippers, boots and faux fur-lined shoes didn't start picking up until after Thanksgiving when temperatures began dropping.
At Faribault Mill, sales of wool and cotton bed blankets, which historically haven't been top sellers during the holidays, rose 75% this month compared to last year, Widmoyer said. Many designs of the company's cold weather accessories, like hats and scarves, sold out early this season.
Overall, holiday sales are up more than 250% year-over-year for Minneapolis outerwear company Askov Finlayson, which sells a line of premium winter parkas along with accessories such as its locally famous North knit hats. Annual sales are more than double what they were last yea, founder Eric Dayton said.
But purchases really saw a jump during the week leading up to Christmas when temperatures were at their lowest, with sales up more than 300%. By that time, orders would be too late to be guaranteed by Christmas so many of those purchases were likely people ordering for themselves, Dayton said.
By Christmas Day, about 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning.
"I can't say if that's correlation or causation. Certainly, this is our kind of weather," said Dayton, who has championed "Keep the North Cold" in the face of climate change.
He noted there's still plenty of opportunity for the makers of cold-weather gear in the new year.
"I think there's a lot of winter yet," Dayton said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
