Eat, buy, walk: Downtown merchants to host sidewalk sale after 3 year hiatus
Published 8:51 am Thursday, October 8, 2015
Looking for a deal: Amanda Farmer shops at Glass Porch Wednesday afternoon. The Glass Porch is one of many downtown merchants in Picayune that will participate in an upcoming sidewalk sale. The sale will offer food, unique clothing and furnishings and a chance to mingle with friends.
With the coming influx of 70-plus confirmed reservations at the WBCCI Airstream Club Tour at Sun Roamers, it made sense for Picayune Main Street to organize the Downtown Sidewalk Sale on Oct. 14. The event takes place in the middle of when the Tour will be in Picayune and provides an opportunity for the merchants in town to garner more business.
Reba Bebee, director of Picayune Main Street, said that they coordinated the sidewalk sale with the Ladies Hat Luncheon. The luncheon, held at the Southern Char Steakhouse in downtown, is part of the tour agenda.
“The ladies of the Airstream Tour will be coming and having a tea at the Southern Char Steakhouse. So our merchants in the downtown will have special (deals) inside the store and out on the sidewalk,” Bebee said. “The merchants haven’t had the sidewalk sale for about three years, so we’re going back to the sidewalk sale to get the downtown humming again and the sidewalks humming again.”
After the meal, the ladies are encouraged to stroll around downtown and enjoy all of the shops the town has to offer. Bre’s, Glass Porch along with Bubbles and Bliss, are just a couple participating shops.
Bebee also said the sale allows the shops to sell last season’s apparel and merchandise to make room for Christmas items.
Another component of the sale is that restaurants will be able to set up and sell food directly in front of their business so people can sample different food from around town.
Velma Kelley, a clerk at Glass Porch, said they are preparing for the large arrival of new shoppers.
“We’re hoping that people will show up and buy stuff and bring our business up a little bit,” Kelley said. “We get people from all over like Biloxi, Gulfport, New Orleans and Chalmette. We get them from all over. We have all kinds of good furniture.”
Kelly also mentioned that for these types of events they provide coffee, cake, muffins and sandwiches. Often there is popcorn, too.
Participants in the Airstream Tour will be given business cards from each of the merchants to put on a key ring so that they can go in those businesses and take advantage of the sales throughout the downtown, Beebe said.
