In the January/February Decatur Focus, Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne reports in her “Focus on Downtown Development” section that city businesses had a reassuring holiday season.

Decatur retail businesses have reported better-than-expected sales for the holiday season. Of course sales aren’t where they were two years ago but most retailers report better sales than last year. We talked about the importance of shopping local and Decatur residents did their part. Retail sales exceeded last year’s figures and local business owners said many customers made a point of telling them they were shopping close to home. Many of the retailers we checked with said they bought less inventory and tried to stock some lower-priced items to respond to the economic downturn and were grateful for the support from Decatur shoppers.

If you haven’t flipped open your hard-copy yet, click over to the Focus PDF to read a few testimonials from area businesses.