There are mixed feelings about the results of this summer’s Dog Days sidewalk sale.
The Special Business District doesn’t keep statistical results of the sale, but they do ask businesses some questions at the end of the sale to get an idea of the turnout.
“For the most part, we talked to folks and it was pretty good.” Carrie Gartner, director of the District, said. “It rained the first day, which is always tough.”
George Wren, owner of the Birkenstock store on Broadway, said that he saw less foot traffic than last year, and because of the economic recession, people are buying less.
“It was an okay sale, it wasn’t terrible or anything,” Wren said. “Everybody’s had to kind of trim down.”
Wren also said that he put out about half as much stock on the sidewalk as he did last year. Some customers had commented to him during the sale that stores overall didn’t have as much merchandise as last year.
R.W. Smith, a salesperson at Binghams, agrees that the economy and high gas prices contributed to a slower turn out.
“Our sales were a little soft, but we still had a decent Dog Days (sale),” said Smith. “I think people are more cautious of how they spend their dollars.”
Smith said that they didn’t put out as many tables as last year, but they still had a lot of merchandise. Putting out, Smith said that it could also mean that they had less buying mistakes during the year and, therefore, less leftover inventory to get rid of.
Smith also mentioned that this was the first year with the new awning, which covers less of the sidewalk that the old canopy did. With that in mind, people might have been slower to move their merchandise on the sidewalk during the rainy days.
Kelly Williams, the assistant manager at Envy, said that she didn’t see as many stores participating, and she suspects that it was a much slower sale than usual.
“We haven’t crunched our stock yet, but we definitely saw less than last year — about two thirds of the customers and the sales,” Williams said. “I don’t really know what (the factors were).”
Williams said the weather may have dulled turnout, but she also pointed out that it was the first full year since Savvy made the transformation to Envy.
Mills Menser, owner of Buchroeder’s, said that, while their sales were better than last year, he had noticed some differences in the Dog Days sale turn out.
“(In) downtown as a whole, not as many shoppers came out,” Menser said. “And the amount of organization and effort from other businesses wasn’t as much as I’ve seen in the past.”
Gartner said that, while the past two years were very sunny, the rainy weather this year was a factor to consider. She also said that she thinks the same number of retailers participated this year as last year, and two years ago there weren’t as many retailers open in the downtown area, so she thinks that there were more participants. As far as the suspicion of fewer shoppers, she disagrees.
“If people are worried about the economy, it strikes me that they would want to be at a clearance sale,” Gartner said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Erin Keltner, owner of Swank boutique, said that she saw more traffic than last year and, despite the weather, there was a good turnout. Keltner said that she thought everyone participated for the most part, but she was surprised that one of the stores next to her didn’t.
Veronica Kramer, owner of Pen Point Paperie, said that she saw about the same results overall- sales, foot traffic and participants. She said that although the weather was a little odd, there were really no big changes this year.
The Tiger Spirit store also said they had a very successful Dog Days sale, but salesperson Maredith Prosser said that since the Cotton Bowl and the past winning season for the MU football team, overall business has increased.
Many stores have still not calculated their sales revenue from the Dog Days sale or compared them to last year yet. But no store said that they were disappointed with the end results or the turnout. Although there are many possible factors that can contribute to each store’s success during the sale, an overall consensus of fun and satisfaction was apparent.
“I think it’s a valuable and good tradition for downtown businesses,” Menser said.
