Roxboro Merchants Association President Larry Cole said Friday that the majority of merchants he had spoken to see an increase in sales as Christmas Day nears.

“I think most would tell you that their sales in December started off fairly slow, but have picked up in the past few days,” Cole said. “A lot are saying that their sales are picking up thanks to some last-minute shoppers.”

Another plus for merchants, Cole said, was the fact that many had instituted extended shopping hours this week and many stores, including the Furniture Mart that Cole operates on Madison Boulevard, will be open Sunday afternoon.

“We’re going to be open from [1 p.m. until 5 p.m.],” Cole said. “And, I know that there are some others, like The Bootery, that are going to be open on Sunday as well.”

Cole said merchants have seen effects on their sales as a result of Personians doing Christmas shopping via the Internet.

“It does affect the merchants some,” Cole said. “There is definitely an affect of people buying things on the Internet.”

At the same time, however, Cole said that the Internet could also serve as an aid to businesses.

“People can go online to see what you have, and that may bring you some sales” he said.

Pat Pass, who operates The Brass Eagle on North Main Street, said her store was “busy” Friday afternoon and had been “pretty good” throughout the holiday shopping season.

“We are very busy right now,” Pass said. “And, for the most part, it has been a pretty good year.”

Bill Dallas, who operates The Bootery on Madison Boulevard, has seen his sales totals change drastically over the past month.

“It really goes back to the first couple of weeks in November,” Dallas said. “We were real behind then, but by the end of November, we had made our figures for the year prior.”

Thus far this month, there has been even better news for Dallas.

“As of last Saturday, we were 22 percent ahead of our sales from last year,” Dallas said, adding, however, that that could change before Christmas Day rolls around.

“This is the big week,” Dallas stressed. “So, the pendulum could swing the other way in a hurry if we don’t have a real good last few days before Christmas.”