by KILTIE TOMPKINS
Lexington store owners who have been relying on local customers and tourists may now be able to tap into a different source of consumers--day shoppers.
The results of a survey conducted by the Chamber of Commerce in November and December show that 39 percent of downtown shoppers are from outside Lexington and Rockbridge County. The survey results were released in the Chamber’s newsletter, The Beat of Lexington, last week.
“Many of these people are day
shoppers,” said Robert Chambers, promotions manager for the Chamber of
Commerce. “A lot of people come down here to get away from that
busy-body, stuck-in-traffic lifestyle.”
The zip code survey was conducted by 24 downtown shops from Nov. 6 through Dec. 24. Store owners asked paying customers what areas they were from and reported their information to the Chamber. While 61 percent of shoppers were from Lexington and Rockbridge County, 16 percent were from Virginia cities outside the county: Roanoke, Northern Virginia, Staunton, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Richmond, Covington and Harrisonburg. The remaining 23 percent were from other Virginia cities or from outside the state.
The fact that the majority of consumers were from the city and county was not surprising to most store owners.
“The lion’s share of people coming into both [our stores] were locals,” said Al Hockaday, co-owner of Shenandoah Attic and Victorian Parlour. “The survey confirmed what we set out to do [when we opened]: buy specifically for the local population.”
Hockaday also said that most students in the town are “general shoppers,” but that they have a “tunnel vision”- they come to get just what they need at restaurants and particular stores. Therefore, he said he will continue to rely on the local population, a strategy that has worked since his wife, Ernestine Hockaday, first opened up her store 17 years ago.
Some store owners, however, say that with tourism numbers down, due in part to the cost of gasoline, visiting “day shoppers” cannot be ignored.
“The surveys opened up other cities for me,” said Lucia Owens, owner of Sunday’s Child. “I will change my advertising dollars to get more day trippers.”
According to the newsletter, Roanoke and Northern Virginia brought in the most outside shoppers, with six percent. Of the 23 percent from outside the state or from other Virginia cities not recorded in the survey results, Chambers said there is some ambiguity. He said more research needs to be done to determine what portion of that 23 percent is made up of out-of-state students at Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute who actually reside in Lexington during the school year. Narrowing down those numbers will help entrepreneurs better understand how to allocate their money toward advertising in certain areas.
“From the Chamber’s perspective, it’s important to know in marketing strategies which media venues to hit up to get a return on your investment,” Chambers said.
Other cities similar to Lexington have done these types of surveys as well. For example, town officials in Middleburg, which has a population of around 700, conducted zip code surveys in April 2005 and again in January 2006, according to the Middleburg Eccentric. Those surveys were also intended to fine-tune marketing efforts, the Eccentric said.
Lexington’s survey was the first of its kind conducted by the Chamber, but Chambers said they hope to continue the survey on a quarterly basis. The first study gave them a look at the holiday season, but they want to know what goes on year round, he said.
Breakdown of shoppers in Lexington
Click to enlarge this graph
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd