Longtime El Centro businessman and merchant Clark Baker said Black Friday didn't have much of an impact on sales at his downtown El Centro music store. (Joselito Villero) |
Black Friday may have provided a boon to big local retailers but the overall effects of the annual shopping spree to small business owners in downtown El Centro appears to be mixed.
Just ask Maria Ortiz, proprietor of Victoria’s Cottage Antiques & Collectibles.
While the bigger businesses of the sort that can be found at the Imperial Valley Mall have seen large crowds searching for that big-ticket item, consumers are less inclined to do their traditional holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving along Main Street, Ortiz explained.
Small businesses like hers are left dead last by even the snowbirds, said Ortiz, who opened her El Centro shop nearly a year ago.
“The customers did come in but the new ones hardly came in,” she said.
Ortiz wasn’t the only merchant who felt Black Friday was like any other business day. Other business owners along Main Street weighed in with their assessment of what is touted as the start of the busy holiday shopping season.
While Clark Baker, owner of Clark Baker Music, said the effects of the holiday shopping season’s kickoff appear to be negligible, as customers wouldn’t ordinarily come to his business for a one-day sale event. Baker added that business owners and city leaders should partner-up and focus on bringing in more businesses to help revitalize downtown.
Baker pointed out that much is spent on outside consultants who are supposed to come up with ways on helping spur economic growth but questioned whether city leaders actually follow up on what such consultants have to say.
There could be a way of accommodating a business, like Burgers and Beer, to open along Main Street given that merchants as well as nearby residents would like to eat at such a restaurant during their lunch breaks, Baker said.
“Hopefully, we can get started on that,” Baker said.
Even investors who bid up retail stocks weren’t all that jazzed about Black Friday in spite of strong sales, according to an online media report. According to Reuters, Standard & Poor’s Retail index hit a three and a half year high Wednesday on the hope that consumers would engage in a shopping spree, but the index had gone down 1.3 percent by Monday, indicating that investors might be waiting to see how much of a sales impact the start of the holiday shopping season will have in the long run.
Larry Bratton, who has operated Brooks Jewelry & Gifts in El Centro for the past 33 years, said he was really busy Friday and Saturday. Calling his store “a niche business,” his fortune was born out of hard work and staying focused on providing service in the purchase of scrap gold, watch repair and other needs.
But Bratton also acknowledged that downtown has seen an economic vacuum in the past.
“I’ve seen a lot of businesses come and go,” Bratton said. “It’s a challenge.”
Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 760 337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com
Just ask Maria Ortiz, proprietor of Victoria’s Cottage Antiques & Collectibles.
While the bigger businesses of the sort that can be found at the Imperial Valley Mall have seen large crowds searching for that big-ticket item, consumers are less inclined to do their traditional holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving along Main Street, Ortiz explained.
Small businesses like hers are left dead last by even the snowbirds, said Ortiz, who opened her El Centro shop nearly a year ago.
“The customers did come in but the new ones hardly came in,” she said.
Ortiz wasn’t the only merchant who felt Black Friday was like any other business day. Other business owners along Main Street weighed in with their assessment of what is touted as the start of the busy holiday shopping season.
While Clark Baker, owner of Clark Baker Music, said the effects of the holiday shopping season’s kickoff appear to be negligible, as customers wouldn’t ordinarily come to his business for a one-day sale event. Baker added that business owners and city leaders should partner-up and focus on bringing in more businesses to help revitalize downtown.
Baker pointed out that much is spent on outside consultants who are supposed to come up with ways on helping spur economic growth but questioned whether city leaders actually follow up on what such consultants have to say.
There could be a way of accommodating a business, like Burgers and Beer, to open along Main Street given that merchants as well as nearby residents would like to eat at such a restaurant during their lunch breaks, Baker said.
“Hopefully, we can get started on that,” Baker said.
Even investors who bid up retail stocks weren’t all that jazzed about Black Friday in spite of strong sales, according to an online media report. According to Reuters, Standard & Poor’s Retail index hit a three and a half year high Wednesday on the hope that consumers would engage in a shopping spree, but the index had gone down 1.3 percent by Monday, indicating that investors might be waiting to see how much of a sales impact the start of the holiday shopping season will have in the long run.
Larry Bratton, who has operated Brooks Jewelry & Gifts in El Centro for the past 33 years, said he was really busy Friday and Saturday. Calling his store “a niche business,” his fortune was born out of hard work and staying focused on providing service in the purchase of scrap gold, watch repair and other needs.
But Bratton also acknowledged that downtown has seen an economic vacuum in the past.
“I’ve seen a lot of businesses come and go,” Bratton said. “It’s a challenge.”
Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 760 337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com
