ECONOMY
TCBusiness.com 9
National Retail Federation.
Merchants’ hopes for an even better
event in 2022 seem to have held up, according
to reports by merchants.
Shop Small Saturday evolved out of
a 2010 partnership between American
Express, the nonprofit National Trust
For Historic Preservation and the mayor
of Boston.
Sales in 2021 set records, but the numbers
were still below pre-pandemic levels.
A Lending Tree survey last year found that
53% of the U.S. population knows at least
one small business that was forced to close
permanently due to COVID restrictions.
NUMBERS ARE UP
Downtown Fort Pierce merchants
reported sales increases above last year’s
event by between 10% and 15%. Some
stores did even better than that.
“It was almost 17 % better than last
year,” said Becky Demanuel of the gift store
Chic & Shore Things on Second Street. “Actually,
it’s my second-best day of the year
saleswise. The event really is a boost for
the downtown area.”
Karen DeVries, owner of Chaney’s House
O’Flowers on the corner of Avenue A and
Second Street, said her sales tripled from
last year.
“I think the advertising and people
wanting to shop local businesses was the
reason,” she explained. “We kept advertising
on social media and I think that just
brought more people downtown.”
Jan Russell of Sweets Jewelers on Avenue
A, whose family has been in business in the
same spot since 1926, noted that “Downtown
was busy. It was like the old days.”
For Beryl Muise, owner of the gift store
Notions & Potions on Second Street, Black
Friday this year was even better than Shop
Small Saturday. Muise recorded sales 40%
higher than last year.
“I think more people want to support
shopping small and I think these numbers
prove it,” she said.
ROSY FUTURE
Muise said she has seen a steady stream
of locals who patronize her store. She is also
looking to even better times ahead.
“Everyone downtown is very, very
excited for when King’s Landing comes,”
Muise said. “The hotel will make a huge
difference for us. We’re realizing that locals
want to shop in their own community and
I think all the planned new development
will continue to help us.”
While a couple of downtown businesses
have closed in the past year Whirled Inc.,
a gift and art store, and Honey & Co., a
women’s clothing boutique, they’ve either
already been replaced or are about to be.
Sarah Jane and Co. replaced Honey and
Loup de Loup, near Chaney’s and Sweets
Jewelers, has expanded into double the
retail space.
Muise, who is active in the Downtown
Business Association, reports that all
downtown retail spaces are filled and that
there’s a waiting list for new vendors. She
also confirmed what national surveys have
found regarding downtown shoppers and
their needs.
“My customers are younger, many in
their mid-30s — and they tell me they
want to shop at night after eating dinner
downtown.”
STEADY PROGRESS
Dale Matteson of Audubon Development
that is building King’s Landing on the for- >>
RUSTY DURHAM
Businesses such as Sweets Jewelers in downtown since the 1920s reported brisk sales in November. According to Jan Russell of Sweets, “it was just like the old
days.” Russell’s grandfather, John Noelke, bought the jewelry store from the Sweet family in the 1940s.
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