Local merchants react to Ben Yehuda Mall
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
While several Judaica merchants across the country reported a decrease in Hanukkah sales due to Israeli-vendor fairs, local merchants said they have not felt the same financial pinch.
The Ben Yehuda Mall, held at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus and Tri-City Jewish Community Center in October, did not negatively affect business at two local Judaica shops, owners said.
"Most people bought out of support (for Israel) and not because they needed something," said Rabbi Yaakov Baron of Mazel Tov Gifts in Scottsdale, who said his regular customers still came in to make their normal purchases.
Fern Kutok of Touch of Israel in Chandler agreed that her regular customers still purchased the decorations, gift wrap, menorot and books - items she said were not available at the Tri-City JCC Ben Yehuda Mall - that they would normally purchase for Hanukkah.
Baron said business has been down since Sept. 11, but he did not see an additional decrease in business due to the Ben Yehuda Mall. Additionally, he said, he gained new customers through "buy Israel" advertising provided by the organizers of the event.
"People who didn't know about us found out about us and came in to the store," he said. "We got the exposure from the people wanting to get things from Israel."
Kutok said she's also had more customers requesting Israeli products, which she has marked with stickers labeled "I" in her store.
Both Kutok and Baron said they felt the items at the Ben Yehuda Mall were priced a bit high, but that didn't stop Baron from contributing to the effort.
"I could have bought ... wholesale, but I wanted to show support myself, so I bought it there anyway," he said.
According to Baron, he requested a booth at the Ben Yehuda Mall. Although he said he would have liked to participate, he also said he understood the policies of the organizers of the event.
Barbara Mark Dreyfuss, co-chairwoman of the Ben Yehuda Mall, said that only Israeli merchants were allowed to participate.
"Our purpose in working as hard as we did for as long as we did was to help the people who were starving because of absolutely no business in Israel. We had no intention of hurting the local Judaica shops," she said.
The organizers, through advertising, encouraged the community to visit local Judaica shops to purchase Israeli products during the rest of the year.
Dreyfuss said there are plans to possibly make the Ben Yehuda Mall an annual event.
While Dreyfuss said she is aware of some of complaints about Israeli-vendor fairs (see main story from the Jewish Week), she was also quick to point out that the organizers had only the best intentions. She hopes that issues brought up in the Jewish Week article will be addressed when planning future events.
"When people are doing things out of the goodness of their hearts - out of passion and compassion - oftentimes they move too fast," she said. "The discoveries that we're making now are a lesson to us."
Owners of Israel Connection in Phoenix and Jewish Quarter of Scottsdale declined to comment for this story.
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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