Over the holiday season, businesses in downtown Fuquay-Varina saw sales drop, but they're not giving up hope.

"We were hoping that people would come out and we would kind of rally back and it didn't turn out as good as we hoped it would," said Things of Joy Owner, Laura Poteat.

Poteat said she's still running sales and looking forward to the New Year.

"I'd say in some instances, on some of our different merchandizing groups it's been as much as 50 percent down which is a little bit stressful on us," she said.

Poteat said she's also thankful she hasn't had to layoff any of her staff.

"When you're in a business like this you know you're taking a risk and you have to plan for situations like this, we've seen it before and we've also seen it come back pretty strong, I think it's going to get better," she said.

Now she hopes the public helps to keep things going.

"Even if they're not really into purchasing a lot of things right now at least they can just come out and look around, buy a little candle or something like that, that will keep us going," said Poteat.

At Downtown Tees and Gifts, owner Paula Disbrow said her sales are down about 65-percent from last year.

"Was it what we had hoped for, no, was it what anybody in this country hoped for, no but we are grateful for what we had," she said.

Disbrow has had to let go 50 percent of her staff for now, but she's hopeful she'll be able to hire them back - soon.

Now businesses are making careful decisions, offering good deals to their customers and keeping a positive outlook on the future.

"We're hoping it starts picking up come summer time and fall and we'll get back on track. We're looking for things to do to revitalize the mall and get traffic back," said J & D Décor owner, John Jacobs.