Business

With any $9.95 or more incoming
cleaning order. Not good with other
dry cleaning coupons.

Expires 11/18/98

Right: Judaica at Spitzer's.

Bottom middle: Ram's
horn, machzor and other
items for the High
Holidays.

Bottom: Avrohom
Plotnick's Judaica.

I

With any $7.95 or more incoming dry
cleaning order. Coupon not good with any
other dry cleaning coupons.

I

Expires 11/18/98

MN

With any $9.95 or more incoming dry
cleaning. Not valid withsame day
service. Men's plain business shirts only.

Expires 11/18/98

I/

JN

With each incoming shoe repair only.
We also do shoe shine service.
One coupon per order.

Expires 11/18/98

With each incoming suede or leather garment.
One coupon per order.

Expires 11/18/98

9/25
1998

71.111 011

JN

I

ing in for ritual items," he said.
"Prayer books are big."
Others use the shopping extrava-
ganza as an opportunity to buy hostess
gifts for dinners they have been invit-
ed to attend. For these goods, the
shoppers aren't sticking to Judaica
shops. Amy Topper of Marmel's Gift
Shop in West Bloomfield said cus-
tomers have been popping in to check
out the latest apple-and-honey decora-
tive platters and Jewish board games
they intend as gifts rather than per-
sonal purchases.
Even at Lori Karbal et al, a bath
and body boutique in Birmingham,
the High Holiday rush has hit. Apple
shaped candles; Hebrew alphabet
books and tomes on Yiddish wisdom
have been flying
off the shelves.
"Anything people
can get their hands
on for the holidays
have been hot
items," said
Karbal.
The Judaica
shop owners seem
unconcerned by
the rivalry from
more secular
stores. Loyalty to
particular Jewish
bookstores keeps
some of their
clients faithful, the
shop owners said.
And 'they have a secret weapon:
the lulav and etrog sets required for
the celebration of Sukkot.
The perishable specialty items stay

" 1,

on the shelves only a few days. The
shoppers also empty their wallets for
ornamental sun catchers, posters and
other sukkah decorations mounted for
sale from the normally staid shops'
ceilings and walls. Pre-fabricated

sukkahs range from the simple canvas
variety for $300 to more elaborate
fiberglass-and-wood paneled sets that
go up to $1,500.
To aid in this shopping boom,
managers of local Judaica shops have
hired extra workers, recruited friends
and relatives and made plans to post
later hours. Plotnik of Spitzer's is a
prime example of shopkeepers prepar-
ing for the rush. He has already sched-
uled three shifts with six workers each
to work around the clock to bind the
lulav, prepare the etrogs for sale and
help customers, some who wander in
as late as 3 a.m. to buy their Sukkot
items.
"I don't sleep very much for two
weeks during the (High Holiday)
rush," Plotnik said. "I catch up on
Shabbos, but other than that I'm too
busy."

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