Santa’s Not Alone as Area’s Diverse Population Leads to a Convergence of Holiday Spending : A Season for All Greetings

Feliz Navidad, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu --holiday messages vary in the polyglot Southland, but it all means “Seasons Greetings” . . . and sales for the region’s retailers.

For example, Las Posadas--the nine-day observance that re-creates Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter on Christmas Eve--generates festive spirits and crowds for Olvera Street merchants and other Los Angeles businesses that cater to the Latino market.

The annual Kwanzaa festival in late December--a harvest-related celebration of African heritage--has been such a boon to black merchants in Los Angeles that a large number of out-of-state business owners bring their wares to the event.

And more Jewish merchants in Southern California are selling gifts and articles associated with Hanukkah, while Southland merchants of Japanese descent are thriving on sales for Oshogatsu--Japan’s New Year celebration.

“Nationally, there’s an awareness of cultural diversity that didn’t exist 20 years ago,” said Ira Kalish, a Los Angeles-based retail economist at Management Horizons, a division of Price Waterhouse. “But that awareness is strongest here--and it’s reflected geographically in the various merchant communities.”

While large segments of the Latino, Asian American and African American business communities tend to be located in certain areas of the Southland, Jewish merchants are more dispersed, making it more difficult for those who would like to promote marketing events for Jewish holidays, Kalish said.

There is a concentration of Jewish-owned enterprises in Los Angeles’ Fairfax District and a few other communities in the Los Angeles area, but no such business communities exist in Orange County. However, that hasn’t deterred Julie Ghodsi, who manages a shop that offers products for Jewish observances.

Ghodsi and her husband, Shahrokh, opened the Golden Dreidle shop in Costa Mesa three years ago, and the couple expect to have their best Hanukkah sales season this year. Another Orange County Jewish heritage shop, Ben Yehuda Street in Los Alamitos, opened about seven years ago.

“There was a definite need for our shops because Jews in Orange County used to have to travel to Los Angeles County to get special items for Jewish holidays,” Ghodsi said.

Hanukkah is an eight-day festival that began last Wednesday at sundown. Known as the Festival of Lights, it includes ceremonial lightings of a menorah--a lamp with eight candles--games, special meals and gift giving.

About one-third of Ghodsi’s annual sales are generated during Hanukkah. She sells menorahs, game pieces called dreidels, books and other heritage items during the season.

Similarly, Tomokuni Seya, manager of the Yaohan supermarket in Los Angeles, expects a big sales surge for Oshogatsu, Japan’s three-day New Year holiday. In the United States, the observance of the holiday includes special meals and Buddhist services.

Sales at the store rise three to four times above normal volume during the last three days of the year, Seya said. Rice cakes, salmon, lobsters, shrimp and carrots are among the popular holiday food.

“Oshogatsu is symbolic,” Seya said. “There is a feeling that if you start the year right, you will have a good year. If you eat good, healthy food, you will have a healthy year.”

For Kwanzaa, which runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, merchants often offer products that evoke the heritage or image of Africans--such as artwork, jewelry, books, toys and clothing.

Much of the city’s Kwanzaa-related retailing takes place in Leimert Park, home of merchants such as Shaka Camara, owner of Bak-Tu-Jua, a shop that stocks gift items and a Kwanzaa candelabra known as a kinara.

Merchants from around the nation will converge on Leimert Park during the annual Kwanzaa festival Dec. 30 through Jan. 1. About 100 out-of-towners set up booths at the park last year for the festival, which features music and dance performances. About 150 visiting merchants are expected this year, said Akile, the festival’s chairman.

The annual Las Posadas observances along Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles start Thursday and run through Dec. 24. Richard Madrid, a co-manager of the Olvera Candle Shop, expects more sales during the observance because participants in traditional Las Posadas evening processions carry candles.

“When it comes to drawing people, Las Posadas is one of the most popular events at Olvera,” Madrid said.

A wide variety of goods--furniture, handbags, jewelry, clothing, toys and arts and crafts--will be sold during the nine-day observance. Food vendors will offer such Las Posadas favorites as champurrado, a chocolate-flavored cornmeal dish, and tamales.

Seasonal food and drink will be available at the annual Las Posadas shows--which include music and dance performances--at Olvera’s La Golondrina restaurant, the site of Los Angeles’ first Las Posadas more than 50 years ago, restaurant manager Vivien Bonzo said.