Huron Expositor, 2002-08-14, Page 5News
TNR HINION 1110108120111. August *0, 2001-3
Out-of-townersshops
Local merchants seeing many new faces as people pass up malls for small town variety
By Scott HIIBendorff
Expositor Editor
People tired of malls and the
same products found at each one are
starting to discover what small
communities like Seaforth offer, say
local businesses.
"There just seems to be, every
year, a bigger increase of people I
don't know coming in the door,"
said Steve Hildebrand of
Hildebrand Flowers and Gifts.
In a hometown of less than 2,500
people, Hildebrand can recognize
most of the local customers and said
even during the week, there are
always different faces coming into
the store, travelling through the
area.
Last Wednesday, Hildebrand said
there were about 10 different
customers he had never seen before,
and he said the
trend lasts all
year, not just in
the summer
months.
"1 think some
are really taken
aback at how
friendly small
town stores are,"
said Hildebrand,
adding they are
not used to having staff taking the
time to chat with them.
He suspects more people are
starting to look to small towns for
shopping in order to find more
diverse stores and products.
He sees some customers stopping
in on their way to tourist
communities like Bayfield and
others just making it a point to visit
small town stores because they are
so unlike mall stores.
"Main Street is not dead," said
Hildebrand.
Seaforth has suffered some blows
to its downtown including the loss
of its Canadian Tire Store about six
years ago, following the arrival of
Wal-Mart and a larger, box store
Canadian Tire in Goderich.
The development of box stores in
Goderich had communities in the
surrounding areas fearing their
downtown cores would be dried up
because people would be drawn out
of town to shop.
Hildebrand said there's no point
trying to match a store like Wal-
Mart. Instead, he said people need
to be different which is what he
believes is helping attract people to
smaller towns for shopping now.
Chris Bruxer of Sumthing
Special, which features many
unique craft and gift items, has
experienced the same thing.
Not all her merchandise can be
found in a mall and Bruxer said
customers are drawn to that.
She had one city customer
recently tell her she was surprised a
small town could have so much
"neat" merchandise.
"I do have a lot of city people,"
said Bruxer. "City people want to
get away from it."
She said city customers have said
they find shopping in small towns
more relaxing and that they often
feel rushed in mall stores.
Joy Ross and Maxine McClory at
Anna's Dress Shoppe have seen
similar trends.
In addition to often seeing new
faces, they are seeing regular
customers coming from Kitchener,
London and the Hanover area.
There are also customers from
Windsor and Toronto that make
appearances about twice a year
looking for new dresses.
Ross said word has spread to out
of town customers who come
knowing Anna Hamilton, who owns
the shop but was on vacation this
week, has unique sweaters and
specializes in mother -of -the -bride
dresses.
She said people are coming to
specifically find unique products.
Hildebrand also pointed out that
he is seeing a lot of out-of-town
faces looking up when they are on
the street, suggesting people are
also attracted to Seaforth for its
unique architecture and historic
Main Street.
He is also finding that faces that
were once new to the store become
regular faces once they have
discovered the unique merchandise.
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