By BAKER ELLIS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – The Christmas season is universally reserved for good spirits, images of bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed youngsters writing hopeful wish-lists to Santa, memories of the past year, and hope for the year to come. Hope comes in many different shapes and sizes however, and for businesses relying on a strong, final Christmas season push to end the year on a good note, that hope can be trying.

Local Columbiana businesses reported varying degrees of success over the Christmas season, and the year in total. Some businesses that have become mainstays in the community over the years, such as Beverly’s Barbecue, did not fare so well in 2014.

“This has been a tough year.” Charles Cook, of Beverly’s Barbecue said. “The worst year I think I can remember.”

Other businesses fared better, such as Main Street Market, which came under new ownership in April of this year.

“We had a good Christmas. We stayed alive.” BJ Walker, the mother of the new owners of the store said with a chuckle. “We only opened up in April, so we didn’t have a Christmas season to compare from the past to how we did this year, but we did good. Everyone will always say, ‘We could have done better,’ and we certainly could have done better, but for our first year I think we’ve been doing what we can.”

This is more of the general opinion by local business owners and workers on the state of the Christmas season. Businesses that have been around for over 20 years, like Personal Touch Family Hairstyling Salon, which opened in 1988, and Howard Tire and Automotive Services, which has been around for 35 years, both said they “did just fine” from a business perspective.

As the holiday season winds down and 2015 approaches, local businesses said they will look back on this Christmas season with varying degrees of fondness. Whatever the attitude, all business owners said they are likely to learn from the experiences over the past year, both good and bad, and use that to turn an optimistic eye toward the future.