'So many new faces': Small businesses tally Main Street Days impact

Though Main Street Days happened only a week ago, some small businesses in the downtown Johnson City district have already seen the impacts. The event featured a day full of fun, with live music, more than 100 vendors and a closed-down East Main Street for people to freely peruse the road and streets. The bustling day had businesses seeing more customers, creating lasting effects before things ramp up for the holiday season. Dick Nelson, owner of Dos Gatos Coffee Bar, said Main Street Days is typically positive for his business. This year, the revenue for his coffee shop saw an uptick. "We did twice as much this past Saturday as we did on Main Street Days last year," Nelson said. "And it was good last year. That was almost triple a normal Saturday." Nelson said because the shop opened at 8 a.m. the day of the event, vendors were coming through the doors to grab a drink or food item while setting up their booths, adding to the overall revenue the business saw. He added it was also encouraging to have so many people attending Main Street Days – despite the colder weather – and seeing the number of new customers enter the shop. "Walking up and down the street, it just amazed me how many people there I [didn't] know," he said. "I just think I know everybody, and [there were] so many new people. In here, just watching the traffic, I saw so many new faces. So, it gives us an opportunity to be introduced to people who aren't usually downtown or not usually in our door." Nelson said he hopes the number of new customers will help in the long term for his business, too, with the hope each person will become a repeat customer. He also said the number of new people reflects the main goal for events like Main Street Days – to bring people downtown. "It just validates the view that I've had and a lot of people have had for a long time, and that is if you bring people downtown, you're going to benefit," Nelson said. "Whether it's the day of the festival or days and weeks after." WEST OF MAY May McNeil, owner of West of May, shared similar sentiments to Nelson. While she has had her business open downtown for just over a year, she's now participated in three Main Street Days events. Along with having her store open, she had a booth set up on Main Street and said it was useful in encouraging people to travel throughout the entirety of the downtown district. "We had a ton of people come by that had never heard of West of May and didn't realize we were just on West Market Street, so close to Main Street, like everything else downtown," she said. "It was cool to let them know ... and we were able to funnel a lot of people straight from the pop-up to the shop that same day." McNeil said while her women's boutique did well as far as sales from the pop-up shop, the true benefit of having a vendor spot was the interactions she had with people stopping by. "Of course I am grateful for any lift in sales – any small business would be," McNeil said. "But I think the opportunity to put business out to so many potential new customers and show this solidarity downtown is the part that's really priceless for me. Sales are great, but it's even better [to] be a part of something and to know we have a community, and a downtown board and people that want to push our businesses and help us by offering a festival like this." 1976 FLOWERS While 1976 Flowers is on West Walnut Street, the business's location didn't stop owner Stephanie Alexander from participating in Main Street Days. Using her van as her booth, Alexander said that, like McNeil, she has participated in the event multiple times and enjoys the connection it forms between people. "For me, it's really about marketing," Alexander said. "So, whereas we did well sales-wise, we do better in shop, like for our Friday flower bar. However, we meet people, we meet couples, we get wedding inquiries – we actually had somebody ask us to do their wedding while we were there – things like that. So, I think it's really positive for business from a marketing perspective more than sales, maybe." Alexander said revenue and marketing from Main Street Days are also paired with how the event helps businesses meet the people within the community. She added while she's grateful for the opportunities the event brings to businesses, her hope is for something similar to Main Street Days to happen near her location and draw customers to Walnut Street. "I think [Main Street Days] is wonderful for Main Street businesses, but I would love to see something like that on West Walnut," she said. "I think that would be really awesome for us. I hate to bring up the 'P' word, but parking is a lot around here, so I think once people already walk to Main Street, I don't think they necessarily want to walk to Walnut if their car is parked the other way." Alexander said Main Street Days also serves as a chance for people to discover places in downtown they had never been and further drive support for small businesses. "I think it really gets people out and about, walking around and it helps people learn about businesses they might not have known about," Alexander said. "Even the Shamrock across from us, they've been here 97 years and there are still people who are like, 'I've never been there.' So, events like this almost force people to get out and explore a little bit. I think it's really great, especially for Main Street businesses."