ThisWeek CW 12/15/2011
Christmas came early to downtown Canal Winchester’s business community, with retailers reporting increased sales this holiday season, thanks, in part, to events such as Christmas in the Village.
“Harvest Moon and Wigwam were packed all weekend, and Fantasy Cupcake ran out of cupcakes both nights,” Mayor Michael Ebert said. “We had the largest crowd ever, about 3,000 people.”
Christmas in the Village, held this year Dec. 2-3, is a joint venture involving the city, Destination Canal Winchester and the Canal Winchester Area Chamber of Commerce to bring customers to downtown businesses.
According to Ebert, downtown retail space in Canal Winchester is currently 100 percent occupied.
“We can’t always say that,” he said. “Generally, we’ll have a vacancy rate of about 10 percent, so people are obviously seeing the value of being downtown. I think that is due in part to the events we hold down there.”
Leah Dotson, owner of Fantasy Cupcake on High Street, said that since opening her shop in June, business has steadily increased but isn’t always as steady as she would like.
“Some days, we have a lot of walk-in customers, and obviously I’d like to keep it steady, but that seems to depend on the weather,” Dotson said. “We’ve got a lot of regulars who come in on a daily basis and they’re really supportive.”
The shop makes cupcakes from scratch each morning. Dotson said the staff is currently spending much of its time filling orders for gift packages and Christmas parties.
Next door to Fantasy Cupcake, Jim Shaw, owner of Shaw and Son Jeweler, said his family’s business has been challenged by the economy but is upbeat about the holiday shopping and the coming year.
“I think we had 300 to 400 people in our shop during Christmas in the Village,” Shaw said. “We worked very hard and we might have been down a little per ticket but our volume was about the same.
“Next year is going to be challenging,” he said. “Spending habits have changed, but we’ve adapted our merchandise to our customers, so we’ve got gifts from $2 up to $20,000 jewelry if someone wants it.”
Kim Rankin, president of the Canal Winchester Area Chamber of Commerce, said she believes more residents are choosing to shop locally, and the chamber is working to spread that message.
“I think the business outlook is good. Downtown shopping brings out the quaintness of our community at the holidays, but people need to remember to shop local all year round,” Rankin said.
“We’re pretty optimistic that things are on the upswing for shopping local and patronizing the businesses that we have going into the new year,” she added.
Michelle McCoy, owner of Knot Sew Limited on Waterloo Street, ran her business as an online shop for seven years before opening her downtown sewing and handcrafted gift shop this year.
She echoed Rankin’s statement about the importance of shopping locally.
“It’s always been my dream to have my own business and my husband and I decided to go for it — we opened Labor Day weekend,” McCoy said. “We did it here because we live here and, of course, we’d want to continue to build our own community up and see it flourish.”
Shaw, whose business is in its 64th year downtown, said he doesn’t just own an independent, local business but also does his best to stay local himself.
“I work really hard to stay local,” Shaw said. “I get my tires from Don Hartman, I buy what I need from Bolenbaugh Hardware and I eat at Shades, Harvest Moon and Wigwam. I think if a person is honest, big-box stores are here to stay. We’re so dependent on our customers for our success and if people don’t support local business, then someday it might not be around.”