BURLINGTON — As Covid cases spike statewide, and restrictions on business and travel sharpen, retailers in the four-block Church Street Marketplace — Vermont’s most popular shopping district — are preparing to tough it out through what is usually their busiest season.
Pam Martin, owner of Bertha Church, a lingerie store, said economic uncertainty and the number of job losses this year alone would make it a tight holiday season for her customers — but combined with a major spike in coronavirus cases, a slow domestic tourist season and no Canadian shoppers, her expectations are low.
“I think a lot of people are not going to be out Christmas shopping,” she said. “And it’s all because of the virus. It just depends on if people feel safe or not coming out.”
Sales suffered during the summer and fall, mainly because of a dip in tourism, said Kara Alnasrawi, executive director of Church Street Marketplace. And she said it’s unlikely things will turn around anytime soon.
The worst financial impacts, Alnasrawi said, will likely come in the first quarter of 2021, when neither good weather nor the holiday season is helping things along. She said it’s “always a possibility” that some stores won’t survive the pandemic — especially if Congress doesn’t pass another CARES Act with coronavirus relief funding.
“Aid would be much better than no aid,” Martin said.
Martin said she’s “just praying” that people feel safe enough to shop. She feels that’s all she can do.
“I send bras to people, I do curbside pickup, but typically, the busiest is in-person, so all we can do is just try and hang in there,” she said.
Alnasrawi said that, though retail shopping is still available, most businesses have pivoted to online shopping, social media sales, local delivery and curbside pickup to make up for lost in-person sales.
Mark Baker, owner of Vermont Flannel, said his store feels the pressures of the pandemic acutely, because of the small size of his Church Street storefront. There just isn’t room for shoppers to crowd into the store to buy flannel shirts and pajamas.
“In years past, we could pack the store full of people, bumper to bumper, everybody in a great mood,” he said. “But now it’s just a spike in Covid all around America, so we obviously can’t do that.”
Baker said Vermont Flannel’s sales are “significantly down” this year, but their product remains popular. For several decades, the company’s motto has been “dedicated to world comfort.” That tagline has tapped into the zeitgeist this year.
“I think we’re doing better than some other companies in terms of having a feel-good product,” Baker said. “I think a comfort product is an important thing during the pandemic.”
While most of the marketplace stores have stayed open during the Covid slump, Sarah Ramsdell Beal, co-owner of the Common Deer boutique, said she closed her storefront in March, a week before the state required retailers to shut down operations. The store hasn’t unlocked its doors since.
“I don’t pass judgment on any store that does choose to be open. A lot of other retailers have employees that aren’t as at-risk as ours,” she said. “We’re all working our butts off to get through this.”
Instead, she and her employees have reopened for a packed schedule of appointment-only shopping, in the hopes of weeding out tourists who haven’t completed a two-week quarantine before visiting the store.
“We’re operating at a loss the entire year in a normal year just so we can make enough money to cover ourselves come quarter four,” she said. “So it’s definitely been a hard decision.”
But Beal said Common Deer has been turning away “a lot of business” — especially as the holidays near.
“Sometimes the weekend before Christmas, or the week of, we’re at fire-code capacity, with a line at the register and a line out the door to come in,” she said. “Obviously, that can’t happen this year.”
Under Gov. Phil Scott’s Nov. 13 restrictions, one key driver of downtown activity is now missing from the Church Street ecosystem — bars.
“The synergy between shopping and dining is very important,” Alnasrawi said. “There is great concern, obviously, for Covid transmission in the crowded bar environment, but I think the only seating one household per table right now has been tough for restaurants.”
Alnasrawi said the city government has offered micro-grants to businesses to update their HVAC system or to install air filters that might help them better navigate the winter and make places like bars and restaurants more safe, to whatever degree they’re allowed to remain open.
But Alnasrawi said there are a few bright spots that make Vermont seem a little better place to do business this holiday season.
For one, Vermont’s low Covid rates up until recently made a semi-normal summer shopping season possible. Alnasrawi said that’s especially true in Chittenden County, as long as reduced travel remains the norm.
“I think it’s been beneficial for businesses to be located in Chittenden County, which obviously has a level of population density that other areas of the state don’t have,” she said.
And also, Vermonters love to shop local.
“This community, whether it’s Burlington or Vermont, definitely tends to favor shopping local,” Alnasrawi said. “I think many people would be surprised how other communities across the country don’t have that sort of local orientation. I believe that’s gotten us through the last few months.”
