Sarah Thorp runs the unbiased artwork store Room 212 on Gloucester Street and is frank about what Christmas means to merchants like her.

“That is our busiest time of the 12 months, we hope. It is the time that will get us by the subsequent 12 months,” she stated.

Her store sells ceramics, jewelry and prints from native artists, however for the previous decade she has organized a Christmas procuring night on her stretch of the road to entice individuals to assist native.

This 12 months’s occasion befell on Thursday and concerned a road celebration with a lot of free meals and actions.

“It is a actually beautiful, community-type occasion,” she stated.

“Folks spherical listed here are nice, they actually prefer to assist us and purchase native somewhat than purchase on-line.

“It is way more private and all of it feeds again into the neighborhood.”