Some Cape stores consider later hours

For a few hours on a Friday during the Christmas shopping season, downtown Cape Girardeau looked like its promoters say it ought to in the evening -- bustling with activity. Stores that normally close by 5 p.m. stayed open late as part of a promotion called Downtown Christmas Open House.

Now, some downtown merchants are saying they ought to stay open late more often in attempts to recapture that mood and that increased revenue.

"We have talked at great lengths about it," said Chuck McGinty, president of the Downtown Merchants Association as well as owner of C.P. McGinty Jewelers. "It's not unanimous, but a lot of us realize we should change our hours to later in the evening."

He said that most downtown merchants are taking a wait-and-see approach. With the economy the way it is, McGinty said some are reluctant to expand their hours, which would mean more advertising and labor costs.

Watching revitalization

Business owners are also interested to see how downtown revitalization efforts shape up, including plans for a renovated Marquette Hotel, a new Mississippi River bridge and the River Campus, the proposed visual and performing arts school for Southeast Missouri State University.

"I'm not saying we want to wait until those projects are done," McGinty said.

At a recent association meeting, McGinty said businesses were talking about staying open until 8 or 9 p.m.

Catherine Dunlap is the executive director of Old Town Cape, a group focused on revitalization of the city's historic downtown district. She said the businesses that participated in the December open house saw increased sales, according to a survey the group performed. The survey also showed that businesses would be interested in staying open later -- maybe every Friday, for example -- if it were part of a coordinated effort.

"It really wouldn't work if only some of the merchants participated," Dunlap said. "We believe that if there is a coordinated effort to stay open late, and if enough merchants participated, that our merchants could have increased sales."

Dunlap said it could happen relatively soon. She even has a promotions committee working with downtown merchants to see how often businesses would stay open late.

"We're looking at one or two nights a week to start with and see how that goes," Dunlap said. "Then maybe we could expand from that. Main Street is all about incremental processes. But I feel like it would be a positive impact."

Open Thursday nights

Chris Hutson of Hutson's Furniture pointed out that their store stays open late every Thursday and has for 30 years.

"Thursdays can be very good for us," he said. "Our customers know they can come here Thursday night and we're open."

Hutson said he supports other downtown businesses staying open later, too.

"The more the merrier," he said. "We're not competing with just the business down the street. We're competing with the movie theater, the skating rink, everything. If we want people's business, we need to be open when they come to us."

Sherry Yaeger, who owns the downtown home decor shop Renaissance, said they had an increase in sales during the open house and that she hopes all of the downtown businesses get on board.

"We had great exposure from the Christmas open house," she said. "We are definitely willing to stay open later on a consistent basis. The more people who do it the better."

Yaeger said that not everyone can get to the downtown area by 5 p.m.

"It's going to help those who work from 8 to 5 and can't get there at any other time than after that," she said. "People also come downtown to eat at the restaurants and then leave because there's nothing to do after."

Crissy Batchelor, who owns Kids Wear Again, said summer months would be the best to stay open late.

"I think it's also going to have to be something that everybody does," she said. "It will have to be promoted and people will have to stick with it. People have to say, 'Downtown's open every Friday.' Doing it once in a while won't do it."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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