From Diva Night and Dickens on Main to Chocolate Walk and Shop-a-Palooza, downtown Boerne has never been more fun for customers and merchants.
The announcement of the upcoming Shop-a-Palooza in July 2018 prompted us to wonder about the effectiveness of themed shopping promotions for small-town merchants. Thus, we reached out to downtown Boerne retailers and event organizers to ask some questions about who coordinates the events, who participates, and why.
“There is not a single entity that plans all the downtown events,” said Tori Bellos, a marketing specialist for Visit Boerne, via email. “Dickens on Main is coordinated by the City of Boerne, Chocolate Walk is coordinated by the Boerne Parks and Recreation Department, Diva Nights and the bulk of the other events are coordinated by the retailers, which meet as a group to plan the events. Most events see a majority of retailers participating in the event. Dickens on Main is the largest downtown event. Chocolate Walk is also incredibly popular and tickets sell out within hours of going on sale every year.”
Bellos added that each of the events were “created at different times as ideas and activity needs emerged,” all with the same goal of increasing foot traffic to the city’s downtown area (a.k.a. the “Hill Country Mile”). She noted too that while each organizing entity has its own marketing plan, Visit Boerne helps each of them out with blog posts and social media promotions.
“I don’t know if it’s any one thing, or the events exactly, that have helped with our foot traffic lately, but things have gotten a whole lot better for us since social media came along,” said Bill Spruce, who co-owns a home decor shop named for his wife. The couple opened Jac’s Personal Touch in 1989 down in San Antonio, but they moved to Boerne 12 years ago. “I’m watching what happens on Instagram and Facebook, and the people working on that for Boerne sure know what they’re doing. We don’t have a website for our store, but we can see a a lot more of interest coming through the door. Success breeds success. We’re getting better and better and marketing, better and better stores. And here we are in this store, after all these years, sitting in the middle of it. It’s just great.”
Spruce added that recent, non-stop construction near Leon Springs has helped reorient customers to downtown Boerne, too. “They’re deciding that if they need a gift, they can run downtown to us rather than The Rim [shopping center in San Antonio] and avoid the hassle of traffic. Downtown Boerne is walkable. People feel that need these days to slow down, to turn their focus off of their cell phones. What people like about us, about our Boerne stores, is that they can go back in time. There’s the feeling of being with friends. We give our customers a little time, a little attention. People need that, and it keeps bringing them back.”
Across the street from Spruce’s store, Brandi Sees owns two shops, one for home decor items and the featuring ladies clothing.
“I’ve owned La Te Da for 15 years and Pixie for 3 years. I live in Boerne, so I wanted to work close to home. I was very lucky for my building to come available for rent and for me to jump on it before anyone else got it,” Sees said in an email interview. “Rentals are hard to come by on Main Street.”
Sees said she finds value in the themed shopping nights to her, as a merchant.
“Events [like Dickens on Main and Diva Night] increase foot traffic significantly. They bring some new people into my store, but they also give some of my regular customers a chance to have a unique shopping experience—as opposed to any other day, and they enjoy that. We’ve been trying hard to get more locals to shop in town because we’ve noticed we have more tourist foot traffic in general, from San Antonio, Houston, Austin, DFW areas. I’d like to hope it’s working.”
“I’d say now that a third of our business is from our days in San Antonio, a third is the tourists, and now a third is people from Boerne,” said Spruce.
As for Sees, when asked which of the various evenings is her favorite, she said it was a toss up between Diva Night and Dickens on Main.
“I have a hard time deciding, as I love them both. Dickens is a great family friendly event and it’s amazing because the street is closed and there’s so much going on for the event. Diva Night is special for the ladies. Some bring their daughters, but most don’t. And I enjoy seeing all of them out in their boas and tiaras having fun. Do I have to pick just one event?”
Nah. We’d never ask someone to place a limit on the fun to be had from retail therapy.
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Pamela Price is the founder of TheTexasWildflower.com and lives with one foot in Boerne and the other in San Antonio, giving her the best of Texas Hill Country living.
