The downtown retail scene is changing. Some long-time merchants have retired, and new businesses are coming into the marketplace.
Darlene and Richard Schrum operated various businesses downtown for 42 years, including Spring Street Peddler, Down Under on Center Street, and Emerald Forest. The other two stores closed earlier, leaving Emerald Forest, which has been leased to another operator.
“My husband retired three years before me and he wanted me to retire,” Darlene said. “He just wanted to be home and do his music. We did incredibly well here even up to the last day. It wasn’t really anything to do with business, it was just keeping up with the business.”
Schrum said one of the most difficult parts of the job was finding adequate labor, particularly when they had three stores. Finding people capable and willing to work evenings, in particular, was a major challenge.
“Night business is very good for open shops, but you can’t work there all day and move into also working at night,” Schrum said. “You have to be a little younger to do things like that. To hire someone for evenings who will stay there to have real stability, you are turning your whole business over to them. Finding people capable of staying there at night was difficult. It has been three or four years since I stayed open at nights. The people who leased our shop are younger and have more ability to fill in the nights and they plan to.”
Schrum said when they started out downtown, there was a grocery store, a hardware store, the gas company and a cleaners.
“There weren’t many shops,” she said. “We started our shop on the second floor. Then we moved downstairs onto the regular Spring Street. Then some more shops came in. Some of those have also gone out recently. That is a long time to be in business and be open all the time. One thing I felt was that being there seven days a week was very important. In the latter years, it was just too much and it was time to retire.”
Other long time retailers who have retired from the downtown include the Quilt Shop operated by the McClungs, and Cathy Gustin’s Impressions. Nelson’s has consolidated its stores.
Some shorter-term businesses that have left downtown cited rents being raised. But Schrum said taxes and insurance have gone up a great deal.
“It just depends on what you buy the building for what you can rent for,” she said. “Downtown will continue to be a good place to run a business. I really think the younger people will be coming in with creative ideas. It is time for a new generation being in here, and I think that will happen.”
Carole Freeman is one of those new, younger shopkeepers. She recently opened Hippie Biker Chick across from the Trolley Station next door to Local Flavor. She started her business in 2015 in a yurt located on 62 West.
“That location wasn’t enough to bring in the traffic we wanted,” Freeman said. “The yurt was too small. We needed more space. It seems like it was a good answer to move downtown. We cater to hippies and bikers and try to find that middle ground for hippie bikers. We have a lot of hippie items like tie shirts, backpacks, purses, festival belts, hats, and shirts.” She plans to be open 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“If the town is hopping at 7 p.m., we will stay open until 9 or 10 p.m.,” she said. “I’ve had several storeowners come by and welcome me. They notice what I have and say they will tell other people what we have. I didn’t expect to have that kind of support from other storeowners.”
Jacqueline Wolven, director of the Main Street Eureka Springs, said spring is always a busy season and this year is shaping up very well.
“We have five open retail spaces on Spring and Main, which is less than five percent of the total retail spaces downtown,” Wolven said. “What is exciting for the visitor is that the whole of downtown gets a fresh start each spring with a mix of old favorites that they love shopping in as well as new shops to explore for the first time. We relish the fact that the shuffle and explosion of new ideas happens each year and are excited by the many new offerings.”
She said retail reinvention is an important component of tourist destinations and we have been extremely lucky in downtown Eureka Springs that the lure of foot traffic and exquisite shopping continues to attract retailers to try something new.
“We have the best downtown shopping district in the state and it just continues to provide endless opportunities for entrepreneurs, seasoned business owners and visitors who use it as the primary attraction for the destination,” she said.
Wolven said they have been tracking the retail spaces for the past eight years and this year looks especially good.
“The business reshuffle is good to keep things fresh, new owners in several established businesses and a really good new mix of businesses,” Wolven said. “I predict a pretty good year. It’s already doing well with virtually no winter season to speak of and a bright sunny spring.”