Jeff and Lee Franklin expect to be busy tonight, with their Main Street toy shop open until midnight. But they're really bracing themselves for next Thursday, when their Annapolis and Severna Park stores will be participating in Midnight Madness promotions.
Severna Park's business district is the second in the county to sponsor a Midnight Madness, a night on which merchants keep their shops open late and offer food and drink and discounts.
Annapolis merchants have been doing it for six years and are expanding to two nights this year, tonight and next Thursday.
"Hopefully, Severna Park can have a Midnight Madness just like Annapolis and be a destination shopping place," said Nancy Cheesman, marketing director for the Park Plaza Merchants Association.
Next Thursday, merchants in Severna Park Village, Valu Food Festival, Park Plaza and along Benfield Road are to stay open until midnight. They have hired a roaming Santa Claus and the Baltimore Brass Ensemble to help get shoppers in the holiday spirit.
Because it is their first Midnight Madness, Severna Park merchants aren't sure what to expect. Part of Annapolis' success hinges on shoppers' being drawn by its downtown Historic District. The Severna Park merchants are spread across several strip malls.
"I think Severna Park shoppers will support it," said Linda Zahn, executive director of the Severna Park Chamber of Commerce.
"Severna Park is very much a community," said Mr. Franklin, owner of Be-Beep -- A Toy Store. "When we create occasions when people get together, it tends to be successful."
Each of the last six years, the event has drawn crowds that packed the streets of Annapolis, and each year people have urged merchants to stay open late more than one night. The Annapolis Business Coalition, which sponsors the event, fTC decided to have two nights of midnight shopping this year, the result of a typographical error in a flier advertising the event.
The event originally was scheduled for Dec. 15, but the flier listed the date as Dec. 8. The coalition quickly called the Dec. 8 event "Christmas Kickoff, Prelude to Midnight Madness" and set Midnight Madness for the original date.
About 75 carolers from the Annapolis Christian School, the Annapolis Chorale, the Beauty Shop Quartet and the Maryland Chamber Singers are to stroll through town both nights, along with three of Santa's helpers, including Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins.
Free parking will be available at Hillman Garage after 6 p.m., and there will be free shuttle bus service from Navy-Marine Corps Stadium from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Merchants said they thought of Midnight Madness as a way for local residents to reclaim their town from the tourists, rather than as a way to compete with malls on the outskirts of the city.
"The idea of Midnight Madness is to open the town for the locals so the town could be theirs for the night," said Nancy Griggs Johnson, chairwoman of Midnight Madness and vice president of the Annapolis Business Coalition.
"We can do what Annapolis Mall can't do: We can hit them in the heart," said Terry Drake, a past president of the Annapolis Business Coalition. "People love downtown. "
Despite previous successes, some merchants are concerned about keeping their shops open until midnight twice in a week.
"People want the feeling of running into people they know. They don't want to ask which night you're coming," said Ron George of Ron George Jewelers on Main Street. "It could be overkill."
Other merchants remain optimistic.
"I think it'll be good," said Martha Phillips, who owns four Harbor Square Mall shops. "We always have someone ask why don't we do it two nights."