By Kate Keeley
Lexington’s small businesses are just starting to recover from a summer slump in sales, thanks to several weekends of alumni and family events at Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute.
The city’s sales tax receipts since June are 3.6% behind last year and 12% behind budget, according to Finance Director Jennifer Bell.
“Summer is always going to be slow because schools are not in session and locals go on vacation,” said Sheila Glaeser, Violett Consignment owner. “You just don’t have quite as many tourists.”
Glaeser said she made between $8,000 and $12,000 in sales during most months this year. But in June, July and September, she averaged about $5,000 per month.
Tourists are key customers for her business and others in Lexington, which has less than 8,000 residents according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“It’s just a tiny little town to try to support over 100 businesses downtown,” she said. “Every month consistently, 80% of my buyers are from out of town. Last Saturday, I only had one returning customer.”
Glaeser said that W&L University students, parents and alumni are “very important” for Violett Consignment’s success, especially on special occasions like last month’s Parents and Family Weekend.
“The W&L families are walking up and down Nelson and Washington all the time, going from fraternity houses to campus or their hotels” on special event weekends, she said.
Lexington City Manager Tom Carroll said this is optimal for the city and is part of “a very close and interdependent relationship” between the city and the colleges.
Pure Eats owner Kasey Potter said her restaurant also got a boost from the family weekend, which brought more than 1,000 visitors to the city.
which further boosts the restaurant’s sales in the fall. (Photo by Kate Keeley)
“We had record sales that weekend,” she said. Family Weekend at VMI was another successful weekend for Pure Eats, Potter said.
These special event weekends, along with weddings in the area, helped turn sales around last month at Violett Consignment, Glaeser said. In October, the store earned about $10,000, almost double what it earned in September.
Potter said she feels supported in the city, which is part of what keeps her going as a business owner, even during the less profitable months.
Potter encourages her staff to recommend other businesses or offer maps and pamphlets to customers.
“My staff have gone through in their downtime and circled their favorite places,” she said. “We send people everywhere. We do what we can.”
But Glaeser said businesses in the city need more support from outside organizations to help offset the lack of sales during the summer.
Businesses are supported by Main Street Lexington, the Chamber of Commerce and Lexington & Rockbridge Area Tourism. They provide resources like grants, networking opportunities and marketing within the city and county.
But Glaeser said more promotion geared toward areas outside the county would be helpful to draw in more customers.
“We need someone in our corner to do a little bit more of a marketing push for us up and down the valley,” she said. “And we just don’t have that right now.”