It’s not quite “business as usual” this year

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

The coronavirus may have kept away some customers – but brought in others. You might say it’s provided an incentive to seek – and share – God.

“A lot of people are reading the Bible”; they’re buying Bibles and missals, said Denise Boucher-Garofoli, owner of Boucher’s Good Books, 254 Lake Ave., Worcester. “When there’s a crisis in the world, they get back … to God.”
She said she’s also sold many “sleeping St. Joseph” statues, which reminds people how Jesus’ foster father received God’s guidance in dreams. (See Mt 1:18-25; Mt 2:13-15,19-23)

“It’s the idea of giving your problems to St. Joseph; even though he’s sleeping … he’s still in connection with God … interceding for us,” Mrs. Boucher-Garofoli said. “We need friends in heaven” and he was a father and husband people can relate to. “He listened. It’s not always so easy to listen to what God wants.”
Patricia Quintiliani, owner of A Shower of Roses Religious Shop, 360 West Boylston St., West Boylston, said some of her customers, who are worried about the future, want blessed candles to light in their homes.

They are seeking protection. “They’re putting St. Benedict medals over their doors,” she said. “St. Benedict has always been known to protect you from evil. … I’ve been selling a lot of rosaries, scapulars, (and) St. Michael medals.”
Some customers are evangelizing; they buy 15-20 Miraculous Medals to give away when they meet someone who could use one, she said.
The virus has “brought out a resurgence of people praying,” she said. “Actually, I get a lot of visits to the chapel” in the shop, which is filled with relics and statues. One regular visitor “thanks me profusely for having it here,” saying it gives him peace. “I prefer that to a sale.”

However, she needs customers in order to keep the chapel and the store open, even without a profit, she said. She is paying $500 more rent per month to make up for rent she could not pay when the shop was closed from March through June during the coronavirus shutdown. She is happy that her landlord has been understanding and patient.

“For this year people should really shop local, because the local businesses are hurting,” she said. Many people take the free prayer cards she puts out, she said, and she hopes to make holy water available again for those who bring their own bottle.
“It’s been an interesting year,” said P.J. Tally, owner of Tally’s Religious Gifts & Church Supplies, 1150 Pontiac Ave., Cranston, Rhode Island. “Church business is off a bit because of the restrictions on attending Mass.” Business recently slowed, with many people taking precautions because of the virus, he said.
But, he said, “our retail customers seem to have embraced their faith.”
The store caters to individuals and churches. Customers concerned about going inside can shop on the website, tallys.com, and request curbside pickup or have purchases mailed or delivered by UPS.

“Now we’re seeing sales of home Nativity sets – to larger sets that can be placed outside” on home or church lawns, Mr. Tally said. He said he thinks maybe people “have made a chapel-like space in their house for people who can’t go to Mass.”
“I think business right now is pretty much on track,” said Patricia Beu, manager of St. Anne Shrine Gift Shop, 16 Church St., Sturbridge. Each year business decreases, as Christmas becomes more commercialized and the focus on Jesus’ birthday diminishes, she said. She said secular retail stores have few Nativity sets for sale.
But customers are happy to learn that the shrine’s gift shop is open, and are doing Christmas shopping “a little earlier than in the past,” perhaps fearing stores will close again, she said.

She said she had to order more Advent calendars; someone wanted 10 identical ones for religious education students. Advent wreaths and candles and children’s books are selling too.

“Churches are not providing the Sunday missals,” she said. So Assumptionist Father Alex Castro, pastor of St. Anne and St. Patrick Parish at the shrine, is informing worshippers that the gift shop has them.
“We’ve sold, so far, 130,” and another 40 are coming, Mrs. Beu said last week. “I usually only ordered 40 in the past.” Other things that are selling are memorial/sympathy items, including Mass cards for Masses the Assumptionists celebrate at their house in Brighton, she said. “A lot of people are losing people,” said Mrs. Boucher-Garofoli, adding that she’s been selling cardinal and butterfly ornaments which represent the deceased. She also has books about grief.

“My heart breaks for people whose businesses have gone under,” she said of another type of loss. She said she is glad that her parents had paid off the mortgage on her building.

“Business right now is good,” she said. “Communions are happening every weekend.” Usually her first Communion room is set up from spring through September, then she uses the space for Christmas items, she said. This year she turned the music room into a first Communion room to make way for the Christmas things. A children’s book by EWTN anchor Raymond Arroyo is a popular item this year.

“We’ve been selling a lot of ‘The Spider who saved Christmas’; I had to re-order twice,” Mrs. Boucher-Garofoli said. Mrs. Quintiliani also finds it is popular. Both women sell books, Fontanini Nativity sets and individual figures, and Advent supplies, among many other items.

A children’s Christmas story is “not like a toy you outgrow,” Mrs. Boucher-Garofoli said. “Sometimes families will have a special Christmas night. As the children get older, they’ll read the book.”

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