Uptown, State Street's forgotten businesses band together to boost sales

Published Monday, January 9, 2006

Seven shops around North Court Street and State Street played host to a Hidden Treasure event Thursday as part of an ongoing process to raise awareness of small businesses in Athens.

As part of the event, customers received maps of the area and a card with each business name. They then had to travel to each store and answer questions to be eligible for a drawing at Pangaea Tea.

To combat the fluctuating population of students, the prospect of a new mall and the ever-present looming of the Wal-Mart on East State Street, Succulent Sundays, Bali Karma, Wild Mercantile LTD, Athens Book Center, Pangaea Tea, Themes and Court Street Collections have banded together to promote local business.

The organizer of the event, Bali Karma owner Colin Donohue, said he is trying to stimulate people to shop in the lost section of State Street.
"(I am interested) in creating a hip, cool place to be," Donohue said. "There's that flavor in the neighborhood."

Other business owners resisted calling Donohue a boss or the leader, but Succulent Sundays owner Kristy Bales said he was a motivator and an organizer. She said she approached him after she opened her retail location at 9 Mill St. "We wanted to work together," Bales said. She said the owners are still trying to configure the structure of the group and that other local businesses are welcome to join. "It's not just necessarily the seven of us," she said.

Andrew Schlegel, a sales associate at Wild Mercantile for two years, said the inter-business diversity means that the shops are not taking customers from each other.
"We're also diverse in ourselves," he said, "so it's not like we're taking each other's business."

The next Hidden Treasures event is scheduled for Feb. 4, according to an e-mail from Bales. The businesses plan to give away more than $200 in prizes. The Shops
Succulent Sundays, was originally a wholesale operation focusing on natural-based bath and body products.

Bali Karma, 22 E. State St., specializes in art, attire, gifts and jewelry from Indonesia, with signs posted that the proceeds of sales will aid the Indonesian families who produce the objects. Wild Mercantile LTD, 30 E. State St., sells outdoor equipment but also coordinates climbing programs and backpacking clinics, instructing consumers on how to properly use the equipment they bought. Athens Book Center and Pangaea Tea, 74 E. State St., are a new and used bookstore and café, respectively. Court Street Collections, 64 N. Court St., has a gallery and sells a multitude of gifts. Themes, 61 N. Court St., has unique gifts and accessories, according to a promotional handout.

Source: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/Articles/News/2006/01/09/288/