Sonoma County retailers face strong holiday season, if they can find seasonal workers Sonoma County retailers face strong holiday season, if they can find seasonal workers

With Black Friday and the Christmas season just around the corner, Sonoma County stores have begun expanding their staffs through seasonal hiring, gearing up for what many say should be a strong holiday season for local retailers.

Businesses at some of the region’s most dominant shopping centers have been looking to hire additional help amid a general sense of optimism about the local and national economy, as well as the outlook for retail specifically.

The county’s September unemployment rate of 3.8 percent marked an improvement from the month and year before and ranked among the lowest in the state, which bodes well for retail, said Ben Stone, executive director of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

But he anticipated that seasonal hiring would “not be what it was even five years ago,” thanks in part to the continued strength of online sales operations like Amazon. That may mean less hiring of cashiers and other traditional retail jobs, with more of a focus on package delivery. But the usual brick-and-mortar positions should still see an uptick, Stone said.

“People still want service when they come in,” he said. “So there will be hiring, but other things are at play: automation, internet, remote shopping - all of that plays into it.”

Another trend Stone said could place pressure on retailers, driven at least in part by millennials, is a preference among some shoppers for buying “experiences” rather than physical items.

Helen Chisham, the manager of the Christmas Fantasia store in downtown Petaluma, said she was amazed to see so many hiring signs all year long in her city and was getting the impression that perhaps “there’s been a turn” in the economy. Chisham said she typically hires for about 15 part-time positions during the holiday season and had only filled maybe 10 of those spots so far.

“It seems like I’m having a bit of a time trying to fill those last couple positions,” Chisham said.

It may be that Chisham hasn’t filled the spots because they’ve not been widely advertised, but the market could be a factor, too. One candidate Chisham wanted to hire recently was unable to accept her offer because he found a full-time job elsewhere, she said.

The county’s low unemployment rate is a good sign for the economy but also means “many people that want a job, have a job,” Stone said.

“It’s a double-edged sword. We’re delighted that people are back to work and having hopefully disposable income, but it does make it harder for retailers - and, frankly, others - to find the staff they need to be successful,” said Jonathan Coe, president and CEO of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce.

Like Chisham, Melissa Williams, director of operations at Montgomery Village, was encouraged by signs she’s seen advertising open positions throughout her shopping center in east Santa Rosa.

She believes holiday hiring there is stronger than it was a year ago.

“The difference between going into a brick-and-mortar store, a physical location, versus, say, ordering online, is that you want somebody to welcome you in, to give you that customer service, to really sell you on that item, to wrap it for you,” Williams said. “And it takes labor to do that.”

At least one store in Montgomery Village, The Classic Duck, has yet to fill all of its available seasonal staff jobs. The store usually hires between six and eight seasonal sales associates during the holiday shopping season and was still looking for one or two more, said office manager Rachel Bush.

“I know we haven’t gotten as many applications as we have in the past, in previous years,” Bush said. “It’s been kind of sparse this year.”

Nonetheless, the holiday forecast for retailers appears generally positive so far.

JPMorgan analyst Matt Boss told CNBC last week that a stronger sense of certainty in the wake of the presidential election could make the holiday season better than originally expected for the retail sector.

Locally, Macy’s is hiring nearly 1,300 seasonal associates in its Bay Area North region, which includes the company’s two Santa Rosa stores and nine others, according to a company spokesperson.

Kimberly Hall, director of marketing at the Santa Rosa Plaza, where one of the local Macy’s stores is located, said “it’s supposed to be a good season” based on news reports, and estimated that stores at her mall were hiring hundreds of people, about as many as they have in years past.

Chisham, meanwhile, already had reason to feel optimistic at her store in Petaluma.

“Things are starting to pick up. We’re doing pretty good, knock on wood ... Things seem to be up over last year for us,” she said. “I think that it’s hopefully going to be a really good year.”