GLENWOOD SPRINGS ” Shoppers lined downtown sidewalks here Friday for what’s traditionally considered the biggest shopping day of the year.

At Summit Canyon Mountaineering, outdoor enthusiasts prowled through clothing racks, tried on shoes and inspected ski equipment in hopes of finding that perfect present.

“It’s been really consistent,” noted Nicki Nabb, floor manager for the popular outdoors shop. “I think the Night on the Town will bring in a lot of people.”

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The Night on the Town is an annual event sponsored by the city’s Downtown Development Authority and designed to get people to come to downtown Glenwood Springs. Once there, shoppers were able to visit seven different zones and get a passport stamped by one shop in each zone.

Nabb said the most popular item at her shop seemed to be North Face down-filled jackets.

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“And a lot of the long underwear type of stuff,” she added.

Nabb also said the store has some nice sweaters in stock in brands such as Icelandic, Indigenous Designs and Dale.

“We have our 12 Days of Christmas coming up where every day we feature something different,” she said.

Next door at The Market at Summit Canyon, barista Tawni Griffin said sales were brisk.

“We’ve had lines out the door all day,” the aproned coffeemaker said.

The special of the day was the eggnog latte.

“It’s been pretty popular,” she said.

A couple of blocks east, at the new Diversion snowboard and skateboard shop, owner Warren Gentry was readying the shop for its grand opening, planned for later Friday night.

“We’re starting to get a lot of foot traffic going,” he said.

The shop, located across Blake Avenue just east of the Hotel Denver, offers snowboards, skateboards, clothing, goggles and sunglasses, and Gentry does repairs.

“We opened in October, during the week of Halloween,” he said. “We specialize in stuff sold by snowboarder-owned companies.”

Gentry, who has a college degree in graphic design, said he finally gets to use that education by designing his own logos to be used on stickers, shirts and other gear.

People were lured into One of a Kind Jewelry and Collectibles by the glitter of gold and luster of precious stones.

Operations manager Autumn Colle said foot traffic was hot and cold throughout the day Friday.

“It’s been on and off, honestly,” she said. “People come in waves. There will be no people in the store for 20 minutes, then there’ll be 20 people in the store. That’s kind of the way it goes, isn’t it?”

The store, located just east of Summit Canyon Mountaineering on 8th Street, exclusively sells handmade jewelry, knives, and other items from throughout the world.

“We start at $24, and we can go up as high as you’d like,” Colle said of the store’s prices.

As far as the number of people shopping, Colle, who is working her fourth Christmas at the shop, said numbers are down a bit.

“But dollar-wise, it’s about even.”

Store owner Murray Reynolds says his store stays fresh because the product selection is always changing.

“We’re just offering our same high quality,” he said. “It’s great when you have a store with no stock numbers and everything’s made by hand.”

Contact Greg Masse: 945-8515, ext. 511

gmasse@postindependent.com