Christmas Village booths will be closed off to walk-ins. Some vendors and disability advocates question the change.

The 800,000 holiday shoppers who flock to Philadelphia’s Christmas Village won’t be able to enter the booths this year, thanks to an effort to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Instead, shoppers will stay outside booths and view products through sales counters, window displays, and other barriers, German American Marketing, the market’s organizer, told vendors in an email in September. Previously, the market had movable ramps that, when requested, could be placed in front of a vendor booth to allow people in wheelchairs and with limited mobility to ascend the elevated lip of booth flooring. The move was still criticized by some for lack of accessibility.

But not all disability advocates are happy with this new change, as local nonprofit Liberty Resources Inc. questioned German American Marketing’s proposal to make booths “inaccessible” in the name of an “equal experience,” according to a statement shared to social media.

“Making the experience more restrictive for everyone does not demonstrate that accessibility has been thoughtfully addressed. It leaves customers and vendors dealing with the consequences of an issue that should have been part of the planning all along,” said Lauren Alden, director of independent living services at Liberty Resources.

Still, Thomas Bauer, CEO of German American Marketing, said the organization spent 32 months speaking with legal experts, the city, and disability advocates to find a better solution to comply with the ADA, according to the email shared with The Inquirer. Market organizers have not said if the organization was threatened with legal action over the ramp accommodation.

“We tried all reasonable solutions to avoid this step and in having to put you and our staff through executing access support assistance,” Bauer wrote. “But at the end of the day, we can’t avoid it. Simply put, we have to make the booths inaccessible — as we have observed at other Holiday Markets in New York City and Denver.”

The change was announced with a little more than two months before shoppers flood the walkways of LOVE Park on Nov. 21. Vendors are racing to redesign booths and reassess how to convert sales while juggling multiple customers who will not be able to examine products without staff assistance, said Kristiana Pärn and her husband, Sebastián Perel, who have already spent more than $18,000 to rent booths at the acclaimed German-themed vendor market this holiday season.

The kicker for some vendors is that the new booth rules came after deadlines to apply for most other regional holiday markets have passed. Pärn and Perel say the shift to building sales counters and window displays won’t just be costly, but will make the experience less meaningful for all customers regardless of mobility.

“We completely agree that the Christmas Village should be accessible for everyone,” said Perel, who sells handmade coasters at the market. “What we question is the solution. Accessibility should mean giving people more access, not taking access away from everyone.”

Liberty Resources is calling on Bauer, city officials, and accessibility professionals “to continue working together toward solutions that maximize independent and equitable access.”

A spokesperson for German American Marketing said the majority of the market will have “counter-service configurations” this year, but select vendors, when the location allows for it, will have permanent ramps to provide entry inside booths. “These changes are part of the Market’s continued efforts to operate within applicable legal and regulatory frameworks and provide an accessible experience for visitors to enjoy,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

German American Marketing did not mention if it will look into alternative solutions in the future.

Not being able to enter booths, while meant to even the playing field for all shoppers, will mean the serendipitous wandering inside a hidden gem of a vendor display or taking cover from the weather inside booths won’t happen, Perel said.

More concerning is that shoppers will have less autonomy, needing staff in many cases to bring items to the counter from displays, which in turn takes time away from other potential customers waiting to be helped, Pärn said.

“As an artist, having conversations with shoppers, providing a space for them to embrace what they’re looking at, is part of the experience,” she said. “But if you’re just waiting in line to be served, it’s not the same thing.”

Christmas Village, Perel said, is a “treasure in a world that’s becoming more digital,” where more than half of U.S. holiday shoppers make their purchases online, according to the National Retail Federation.

Even before Christmas Village’s controversial accessibility change, some vendors like Don Shump of the Philadelphia Bee Co. have been finding retail alternatives this holiday season. Philadelphia Bee Co. has sold its locally famous spotted lanternfly honey at the Christmas Village since 2020, but this year, he said, the company will rent the Franklin Fountain’s Ice Cream Bar storefront on Market Street for half the cost of his Christmas Village booth, Shump said.

While his decision was not driven by the new changes to booths, he said, Christmas Village revenue is not always worth the steep up-front costs. Shump said he watched booth rental prices double since 2020, which he notes was a time when booths were similarly inaccessible due to COVID-19 precautions.

“When the market switched to a walk-in style booth, it definitely improved sales,” Shump said. “Once the village is packed, customers being able to walk in and be separated from the crowds is mission critical for making sales.”

Christmas Village in LOVE Park and Dilworth Park runs Nov. 21 to Dec. 27, from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, such as holiday hours and a soon-to-be-announced vendor list, visit https://philachristmas.com.