Cha-ching! Downtown merchants reap unprecedented rewards from busy weekend

A whirlwind lineup of community events proved a boon to downtown Cape Girardeau restaurants and merchants over the weekend.

Annie Laurie’s had its best day ever.

“I mean, every day is the best day ever at Annie Laurie’s,” owner Laurie Everett said. “But [Saturday] was the best sales day we’ve ever had in our 11 years.”

Cream of the Crust ice cream parlor had a line out the door and twice sold out of strawberry ice cream.

“Best days we ever had,” owner Charles Bertrand said. “I’ve been down here 15 years, and this was a perfect situation ... the best weekend we’ve ever had, and that says a lot.”

It wouldn’t be right, Bertrand said, to call the weekend a “perfect storm,” but there was a certain serendipity underlying the weekend’s business.

The weekend’s events included Southeast Missouri State University’s Parents’ Weekend, the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Day on the River, Heritage Days, The Kellerman Foundation for Historic Preservation’s Grant Symposium, the visiting Pinta and Nina replica ships and the Tailgate Flea Market.

“It started really when the two boats came in Thursday,” Bertrand said.

The Nina’s first mate, Kat Wilson, said the weekend brought about 2,500 visitors per day to tour the ships.

“It was a little crazy,” she said. “Well, a lot crazy. ... That is absolutely one of our busier days. Not quite our busiest, but the only one I’ve seen busier is downtown Pittsburgh.”

Stacy Dohogne Lane, director of public relations for the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the weekend’s success is a testament to the community.

“Events like these are community-involved,” she said. “[Missouri Department of Conservation officials] were willing to share the riverfront with the Pinta and the Nina. They didn’t have to do that.”

And shop owners such as Emilie Stephens of Annie-Em’s at Home opened Sunday — a day it typically closes — to accommodate the crowds.

“We had planned [to be open] in advance. Anytime we know there’s going to be a big event, we do that,” Stephens said. “There were a lot of people in my store that had never been in before. It’s never guaranteed to be a cash-register-ringing day, but it’s good to get people in.”

“We just appreciate those owners so much,” Lane said.

And restaurant owners such as Doc Cain, in turn, appreciated the increased patronage as well.

“It was awesome, quite honestly,” he said.

He said his restaurant, Port Cape Girardeau, is used to high traffic, but this weekend was special.

On Sunday, it sold out of breakfast food. At one point, it struggled to keep up with demand for its original-style ribs.

“You get that kind of traffic flow, it can really stretch your resources, but we’re thrilled with the way the weekend turned out,” he said.

Paula Haas, president of the Downtown Merchant’s Group, helped organize the Tailgate Flea Market and said the weekend was a dream come true.

“It just surpassed our expectations,” she said. “Working together, [downtown] became a destination for people.”

That cooperation, she said, was good to see because downtown has a shared interest in drawing traffic.

“I live downtown. I shop downtown. I have a shop downtown,” she said. “We have a community, and I’m just so proud to see it come together like that.”

Haas said her shop, Somewhere In Time Antiques, was closed Tuesday so she could recuperate.

“I am happy. I am proud,” she said. “And I am still tired.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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