BANGOR, Maine — Downtown merchants will be open for business a couple of hours longer Wednesday as part of the first Fusion Downtown Proud Open House.
One of the first major events associated with Fusion’s Downtown Proud community action initiative to promote downtown merchants, services and attractions, the Downtown Proud Open House features several downtown businesses staying open two hours longer, from 5 to 7 p.m., and offering special discounts and refreshments for customers.
“This is our second event. The first was a downtown cleanup where 15 volunteers showed up to clean up the area from Norumbega Park all the way down to the waterfront,” said Annie Collins, a member of Fusion Bangor’s steering committee. “We’re hoping people who do work 9 to 5 and don’t get a chance to see what downtown has to offer take advantage of this chance to check it out.”
Fusion, a Bangor-area networking group of young residents formed to engage with the community and transform the Bangor region into a preferred place to live, work and play in Maine, hopes to use the event to increase these merchants’ visibility and enhance the opportunity for people to connect with businesspeople.
Participating businesses include American Retro, Antique Marketplace & Cafe, Bangor Wine and Cheese, Best Bib and Tucker, Blue Heron, The Briar Patch, Central Street Farmhouse, The Charles Inn and Big Easy lounge, Epic Sports, Frock Affair, Giacomo’s, Maine Jewelry & Art, Metropolitan Soul, Mexicali Blues, One Lupin Fiber Arts, The Rock & Art Shop, Sweetest Thing, and Valentine Footwear.
The best thing for downtown businesses would be to stay open later everyday. I don’t mean 7pm, I mean 10pm. Downtown business doesn’t need to be earlier, they need to be later. Just think of the foot traffic that would be created, even when stores around the malls are already closed or closing. The downtown would still be open for business pass 9:30pm at night. It would be exciting to see this happen. If only they could begin their business hours later in the day, so that this could be a reality. Could something like this work? Or is there a law? There are laws for everything…
Some fun new stores downtown. Anybody been to Frock Affair? It’s fabulous.
https://www.facebook.com/frockaffair
Clearly someone who thinks business that need to stay open til 10p each night has never really lived in a downtown area.. even in NYC stores, boutiques and shops don’t stay open til 10pm..and they have the population to support such an endeavor.. the amount it cost to pay employees to work doesn’t equal the amount spent. Maine is not a late night shopping kind of place.. I have lived in Maine’s largest city..it’s tourist driven cities and now Bangor. Once a month or every couple of months is a realistic and welcomed boost to invite and entice people to downtown… I hope everyone takes advantage of this evening and enjoys shopping and the deals… btw.. I work downtown.
Costs too much to keep businesses open… However, the mall and box stores with extended hours seem to get all the business, or they think it is profitable anyway, to stay open until 9-11pm, including grocery stores.
It can take years for people to catch on to new hours of a place. The mall, box stores and grocery store also offer free parking for hours of shopping. Downtown only offers free street parking after 6pm. So unless one lives close to the downtown area it can be easier to go to a box store or mall, and in the winter, it is certainly warmer.
People are expected to drive. Cities are designed for one to drive. They cutout sidewalks and force people to walk by higher speed traffic, and cross wider roads with higher traffic speeds and short lights that give hardly anyone enough time to walk across the 4-6 lanes of traffic. Welfare programs help people have a vehicle.
It is no wonder to me downtown areas are no longer booming, unless you have a business that has something those other stores do not offer to bring people downtown.