Viewpoints
Year round business in Ketchikan
By Marie-Jeanne Cadle
November 12, 2007
Monday AM
I just returned from a pleasant weekend in Sitka. One of the
most enjoyable things about my trip was the many stores and galleries
open and catering to locals even in the winter. Sitka's year
round population is about 4000 people less then Ketchikan yet
it manages to maintain a vibrant downtown core with a much larger
variety of stores catering to the local population than we have
here in Ketchikan. Yet we have more people.
As Charles Edwardson mentioned, it takes more than willingness
to keep a store open here year round, it takes money and lots
of it. That money is initially provided by the store owner to
open the store. For the store to be viable and keep operating
year round the money must begin to come from the customers in
the form of purchases. Customers that live right here in Ketchikan
and shop "local" year round.
In my 9 years here I have seen many stores try to stay open in
the winter. They almost always close after one winter. Why?
Not enough locals shop in them. Even after they (locals) have
spent months telling the owner how they hope the store will stay
open and promising to shop there when it's less busy in the
winter. They don't shop, they don't spend, they don't leave
the money necessary to keep the store open.
To those of you who complain about jewelry stores, I say vote
with your dollars by starting your own local business and by
spending money in those stores that are open year round.
Marie-Jeanne Cadle
Ketchikan, AK
About: "Local business
owner & local artist"
Received November 10, 2007
- Published November 12, 2007
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