SALT LAKE CITY — Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail because sure enough, Easter is on its way! The prices of those eggs you like to buy and dye have dipped a bit, but the costs of the chocolate bunnies and decorations you love? They’ve gone up.
How are area retailers trying to make this Easter a little less egg-spensive?
Alexis and her “Energizer bunny,” Cannon, were Easter shopping this week, and say this is their favorite time of year.
“We love to just see all the colors and this rebirth, invigorating, revitalizing time of spring that’s in the air!” said Alexis. “It’s just fun to have special memories of family with the warm sunshine.”
“I think people are just really into the seasons,” said Kelly Elggren, owner of Jolley’s Corner in Salt Lake City. “We had a long, weird winter, so putting spring up, everyone comes in, and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s happy in here!’”
Elggren wants to keep that same lively spirit of Easter that we’ve always known, and she’s made some changes to do so, to keep pace with people’s wants, but also their wallets.
“There’s been a shift, it’s not as “Easterey” as it used to be,” she said. “People still want the staple bunny, chicks, lambs, but really, right now it’s about spring. There is a slowdown in buying, but it’s not that they’re not willing to buy. It’s that they want to make sure that it’s the right product and the right price. We also kind of shifted in some of the things that we carry so that we aren’t out-pricing our customers.”
Because you might be trying to save a buck or two, Zurchers has also made a pivot.
“That’s why our stuff is 50% off, so when we can get a deal, we want to pass that on to our customers because we need a little joy in our life,” explained Zurchers store manager Heather Boss.
Boss said the party supply palace is family-owned, and they keep families in mind when it comes to keeping the fun affordable.
“Because we know things are a little bit harder to come by, we’ve been trying to do a special the week leading up to (Easter),” she said. “On the down low, the week before, we’ll have a special on our balloons just so that nobody’s missing out on any of the fun.”
And while Elggren says it has been difficult for small businesses like Jolley's to keep up amidst inflated prices, it’s worth it to give customers a memorable Easter.
“We’re trying to buy more for our customers," she said, "just that something that they feel some nostalgia or something that is just more meaningful than just having stuff."
