Housewives 30 years ago found it convenient to shop downtown,
but today’s two-income families need evening and weekend shopping
hours, a city consultant said.
Housewives 30 years ago found it convenient to shop downtown, but today’s two-income families need evening and weekend shopping hours, a city consultant said.
“It’s a bigger problem today than ever before” for “mom and pop” merchants struggling to get by, said Bruce Johnston, principal of Danville-based Johnston Real Estate, who’s working with the city to update its downtown plan.
The complaint surfaced last Tuesday night at a workshop with property owners, developers, residents and city officials at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to go shopping on a Sunday or after work and nothing’s open,” said local architect Lesley Miles, one of the roughly 30 people who attended the meeting. “With the small ‘mom and pop’ retailers, you can never tell.” Efforts to bring more merchants and young renters to the city’s core are moving forward this year with an ambitious update to the downtown plan.
The update will focus on land-use and parking strategies and is expected to take a little more than a year to complete, according to city planners.
The result may be a busier downtown with more uniform shopping hours.
But for now, Johnston said even the perception of inconvenience is killing business opportunities downtown.
“If half the stores are closed, and half of those are stores you want to shop, you’re going to take your business elsewhere that day,” he said.
Fixing the problem could be difficult for downtown merchants who operate their businesses with minimal staffs.
“I work six days a week,” said Kathy Long, who owns the Violet Boutique designer clothing store on the corner of Monterey Road and Second Street, which is closed Mondays and is only open four hours Sundays. “Most of us own our own businesses and even though we want to be there for the community, we need to take a break.”
Long said she recently hired an additional salesperson to work Monday hours.
But if even long hours aren’t possible, Long said downtown merchants should align their hours to benefit shoppers.
“What I would do is mainstream our hours to make them more convenient for people,” she said. “Kind of like the outlets (in Gilroy). You know they’re always going to be open at the same time.”
Long suggested picking a day to stay open late, something’s she’s trying to do Friday evenings when live bands play downtown.
Others say Morgan Hill needs more nighttime attractions downtown.
“We used to laugh when I worked in Menlo Park because at 6pm they’d roll up the carpet and the whole town would cease to exist,” said Joe Acosta, who owns the Morgan Hill Barber Shop on First Street. “It’s going to be like that in Morgan Hill until there is something more to bring people in.”
Acosta closes his shop Sundays and Mondays to spend time at home. “For me, it’s just a personal thing,” he said. “Plus, I think most barbers in town close on Sundays and Mondays.”
A number of merchants along Monterey Road are their own landlords, meaning they don’t have leases specifying hours of operation.
“In some cases landlords tell their tenants when they need to be open,” Johnston said. “Without that pressure, many would just assume close early.”
