Media Bashing Christmas Businesses
Christmas is, for many folks, a business.
Whether it is worked as a serving Santa or set up as a shop of Christmas wonder the business of Christmas is for sure a tough one. Some folks believe it is all fairy dust and sugar plums. But when your product is only popular or in use during one particular season of the year making money is a tough thing. Ask any surf shop, any candy maker, or any Christmas shop out there.
The media makes it regular business to bash the business of Christmas. From picking on the big chain stores for selling Christmas too early to complaining about Christmas trees made in China the complaints about the business of Christmas vary. But when it comes to the small Christmas business the media can be particularly cruel.
Take, for example, this latest post from Boston.com about a Christmas Shop in Virginia called The Christmas Sleigh. A writer in Boston wants all the world to know that a small business in Virginia gets some bad reviews on Yelp.com because…it is owned by Linda Tripp.
Who is Linda Tripp? Once upon a time Linda Tripp was a figure in the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal. After she left public service she evidently married her German-born childhood sweetheart and opened up a Christmas store. Considering how poorly she was portrayed in the media and the butt of jokes she became because of the whole sordid deal her plan to melt into obscurity running a Christmas shop doesn’t sound half bad.
Clinton was three presidents ago. Linda Tripp was on the government payroll but she was never an elected official and she was never convicted of a crime. When Clinton left office she was fired from her government job and moved on.
From the looks of things The Christmas Sleigh is a family business operated more by Tripp’s husband. “He” is referenced by most of the reviews at Yelp.com. While there are some negative reviews on Yelp about The Christmas Sleigh there are plenty of positive reviews as well — a fact not disclosed by the meanies in Boston. (Why does a writer in Boston give a rip about a Christmas shop in Virginia? Which of his readers care???)
If you visit their website it is plain to see that The Christmas Sleigh deals in exclusive and authentic stuff. Many of the reviews on Yelp make reference to the costly nature of what they sell and that what they offer may not be for everyone. Some even mention that the shop fits the affluent area where it resides. They must be doing something right because it appears they have been doing business for many years.
Legitimate customers who turn to sites like Yelp to complain about unfulfilled orders may indeed be telling the truth. That’s a service that Yelp provides, a channel for the disgruntled to warn the masses. I don’t take issue with it.
But I do take issue with Boston.com and writer Doug Saffir. The story is unbalanced and unfair. It even posts a less-than-flattering image of Tripp from the Lewinsky days just below the blaring headline. This is deplorable journalism.
And it is brutal for the small Christmas business.
Frankly, my hat is off to The Christmas Sleigh. They’ve built a successful, busy Christmas business it appears. They have unique stuff. If I ever had the chance, being a Christmas fan, I would definitely pay them a visit.
Would I spend money? Well, that’s another story controlled by many factors — including reviews on Yelp.com. But for me and my house, we don’t listen to media-hyped bitterness from the likes of Boston.com — which is major media. They have no business with a business in Virginia.
