Ann Arbor shopkeeper Nina Juergens feels good about her store as the Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.

That’s despite an expectation that sales at Acme Mercantile will fall short of last year’s holiday season, widely considered one of the worst for retailers in years.

“Clearly it’s the strongest time of the year for us,” said Juergens, owner of the quirky shop on West Liberty Street. “I think we’ve done a good job preparing for it, ordering and doing cutbacks. I think we can make less money this holiday season because we’re prepared for it.”

Those preparations included overhauling the store’s inventory to better reflect diminished consumer spending. That’s meant eschewing items that once fetched upwards of $100 in favor of more value-oriented gifts under $50.

“And we’re really gearing up on stocking stuffers,” such as magnets, pencils, candy and pull-my-finger pens, Juergens said. “We have stuff coming in every day.”

Reinventing the store is nothing new for Juergens, who opened up shop in mid-November 2002.

At the time, Juergens, a hair stylist who also owns Salon Vertigo on Fourth Avenue, saw a need for what the store bills as “the world’s small department store in 900 square feet.”

“I opened the store because we had a real void downtown of places to get useful things,” she said. “So having a salon downtown and living downtown, I had less and less places to get the things that I needed. When this space became available, I thought, ‘Hey, this is a great place to be doing this.’”

Alas, the boom in downtown residential development never quite materialized to the extent Juergens envisioned. Over time, the store adapted by bringing in novelties and gifts alongside more practical items, such as dog food and toilet plungers.

Today, Acme sells everything from Tiki mugs, T-shirts and silverware to cookware, “sweet leaf” cases and neoprene six-pack bags. Its Web site trades niche items such as Russian tea and Rat Fink merchandise, but serves primarily as a “shopping guide” for local customers who eventually visit the store, Juergens said.

“We’re like a general store, but with sort of a modern, edgy twist,” said Juergens, who stil lives in Ann Arbor but no longer downtown.

Keep your eyes peeled for a late markdown on select clothing at the store.

“Other than that, our price points are so low that I don’t think we’ll have any sales,” Juergens said.

• Contact Sven Gustafson at sventg123@gmai.com, or follow him at twitter.com/sveng.