As shoppers all across the country are expected to tighten their belts for this holiday season, many businesses in Kent\u2019s downtown are nervous as to what this upcoming season will mean to their bottom line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t expect as good a year\u201d as last year, said Carol Schwindt, owner of American Charm.<\/p>\n
Though business is down at her Meeker Street shop, Schwindt said she believes her loyal customer base will be back to do some holiday shopping.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ll be OK for Christmas, but I don\u2019t think it makes up for what\u2019s been going on in the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Up the street at Rainy Day Treasures and Gifts, co-owner Earline Duhon said she too has noticed that customers are not spending as much this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp until the downturn, it was wonderful,\u201d Duhon said. \u201cThen the bottom fell out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both owners said they were trying to help their balance sheets by ordering less from suppliers and more carefully stocking their stores, but like many others in the area, they are hoping for better days ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t see a turnaround,\u201d Duhon said, \u201cwhy keep the doors open?\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been a difficult few years for merchants downtown and many of the shop owners said the listless economy has further slowed spending in downtown Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight after Cornucopia (Days) we could see a difference,\u201d Duhon said.<\/p>\n
Duhon said she and her partner and other merchants figured people were saving for back-to-school sales or some other reason, but since September, business is down.<\/p>\n
Several business owners echoed Duhon\u2019s sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad anyone asked me in September I could have told them what a mess it would be,\u201d said Judi Stringfellow at English Cottage Collection, noting that her totals were \u201cconsiderably down\u201d from prior years. \u201cEverybody\u2019s worried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe year has been wonderful. However, in October it stopped,\u201d said Eric Sach owner of The Balanced Athlete. \u201cAbsolutely stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sach said his store was in a \u201clarge pinch\u201d this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople just aren\u2019t spending,\u201d he said. \u201cI have plenty of inventory: I just don\u2019t have any shoppers.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Kent Downtown Partnership Executive Director Jacquie Alexander said the economic turn could spell opportunity for downtown, as people are looking to get more for their money.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a better time to be shopping at stores that aren\u2019t chain stores, that have unique items that are treasures,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
Earthworks Gem Design Studio owner Steve Saint Louis agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe when dollars are scarce, they are going to want to spend their dollars in a way with maximum impact,\u201d he said, adding that while foot traffic especially is down so far, the huge drop-off he expected has not come, which he chalks up to the specialty and niche nature of his products.<\/p>\n
To help combat smaller spending limits, Greg Simmons of Browser\u2019s Books said he was relying on his regulars and making sure to keep his shelf stocked with cheaper items, such as figurines instead of original art prints.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re resigned to the fact that people aren\u2019t spending as much,\u201d he said, noting that so far this season sales are down 20 percent from last year.<\/p>\n
Alexander admits it has been \u201ctough\u201d for downtown merchants this year, and said the importance of the Christmas season is not overstated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest days of their year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the economic slowdown, Alexander also said she remains confident about downtown\u2019s future and said the Downtown Partnership was working to bring more shoppers into the area this year, emphasizing the memories and \u201csense of community\u201d that can be shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being able to walk around and go in and out of the stores and have a meal at one of the restaurants; that\u2019s probably the main thing,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
Alexander said one of the biggest problems is that shoppers \u201close sight of\u201d the downtown and tend to go to malls to do their shopping.<\/p>\n
Schwindt agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still a lot of people in Kent who don\u2019t know about downtown,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
To battle that, Schwindt, Alexander and Duhon all said they were changing their advertising strategies to attract more customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not crying, we just have to have a better model of getting people into the store,\u201d Duhon said. \u201cWe just have to be smarter business people if we want to stay in business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander is also encouraging people to shop locally this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep it in town,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll be surprised to get wonderful gift items.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing the community can do is shop locally,\u201d Sach agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s those tax dollars that operate our city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As shoppers all across the country are expected to tighten their belts for this holiday season, many businesses in Kent\u2019s downtown are nervous as to what this upcoming season will mean to their bottom line. \u201cI don\u2019t expect as good a year\u201d as last year, said Carol Schwindt, owner of American Charm. Though business is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":20420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-20419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20419"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}