PITTSBORO — This past Monday was a fairly normal one for downtown Pittsboro.
Along with the normal hustle and bustle of any weekday, there were two individuals sitting in front of the Chatham County Historic Courthouse in the traffic circle holding Confederate flags.
Whereas most cities and towns might find those people and flags out of the ordinary, at least on a Monday around noon, it’s become old hat for Circle City’s center.
Inside his restaurant nearby, Pittsboro Roadhouse owner Greg Lewis bemoaned their presence’s effect on his business and that of his fellow shop owners.
“People don’t want to come because of protests, both sides,” Lewis said. “So what do you do? Many of them are protesting Pittsboro when Pittsboro had nothing to do with this.”
Just this past Saturday, he said, a Chapel Hill couple came in. They told him that if they had known there were protestors just outside the restaurant, they wouldn’t have come.
Downtown Pittsboro’s shops and stores have had a unique 2019. Not only have they had to cope with regular protests and counter protests around the Chatham County government’s decision to remove the “Our Confederate Heroes” monument in the traffic circle, but the small businesses are working to compete or find their niche in an increasingly-crowded and primarily-internet-driven marketplace.
‘What did we do to you?’
Confederate flaggers, protestors and counter-protestors have been a regular feature of downtown Pittsboro since the Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 last August 19 to terminate the county’s agreement with the Winnie Davis Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to locate the monument adjacent to the old courthouse.
The protests — and ensuing arrests, fights and contention — has left some business owners and managers near the events asking: “Why us?”
“Specifically, they told me that they were trying to disrupt the business,” said Mary Demare, the general manager of New Horizons Downtown and New Horizons West. “The flagger guy told me that. So it’s like, ‘What did we do to you?’”
Lewis, Demare and Pittsboro Toys owner Samantha Birchard each their respective businesses have suffered in the ensuing months since the protests and flaggers became a regular downtown feature.
“At first, it was definitely affecting numbers,” Birchard said. “People were saying they were afraid to come downtown at first, and I’m not hearing that anymore. But people are still complaining about it.”
Lewis and Demare said both sides of the discussion are equally causing issues with businesses, particularly on Saturdays, when most of the protests and counter-protests have taken place.
“Not shopping in Pittsboro is not helping their issue,” Lewis said. “It’s hurt my business and it hurts on Saturdays more than any other day of the week.”
Demare said the events have caused diruption for both the employees who live locally and shoppers who want to come from out of the county. She said the stores get “a lot” of customers from Raleigh and Cary, and occasional closures to the roads around the traffic circle have cut off some access.
“Those days did specifically hurt us,” Demare said. “I did ask (flaggers) to move so that they could open the street, but they didn’t.
Christmas time shopping
But life moves on, and as protests have slowed down and protestors have shrunk in number, it’s Christmas season. Despite recent events, shop owners are feeling positive.
“We’re having a good holiday season, for sure,” Demare said. “And I’m fairly certain that the other downtown stores are as well.”
Stephanie Olness, who owns and operates the Gathered store farther up U.S. Highway 15-501 North from the traffic circle, said she hasn’t seen the effects of protests because of her distance from downtown and has continued to push forward.
“I just try to make the store look friendly and welcoming,” Olness said. “I want it to feel warm and have people come in and say, ‘Hey, this could be my home.’”
In February 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce said online retail sales accounted for a higher percentage of sales than general merchandise stores for the first time. During this holiday season, according to Adobe Digital Insights, consumers will spend $143.7 billion online.
Store owners like Olness and Birchard are working to make both their customer experience and products offered unique. Birchard says that in her field, selling toys, more shops like hers are selling toys that don’t sell on Amazon.
“They’re niche,” she said. “You’ve got to have a niche that Amazon won’t have. We like to make kids a little smarter and happier. That was what interested me the most, the child development. So that’s what my driving is, encourages creativity.”
Olness said she tried to offer different merchandise than a big box store like Walmart or Target, and Demare said New Horizons tried to do the same.
“We’re lucky, at least in the downtown store, since we are a boutique, you can’t find the clothes that we sell online,” Demare said. “They’re a small production, they’re usually sewn and died to order. So it’s not like you can find this same shirt on the Internet. You might be able to find something similar to it, but it wouldn’t be quality and made in the USA and all that. In that, we’re lucky. We really work on creating a mix of products that are fantastic and surprising.”
Olness added, “I’ve always got unique things. There’s something in the store for everybody.”
Additionally, there’s a focus on providing good customer service and a pleasant shopping experience. Birchard spoke highly of other stores and their efforts in that arena.
“I go into New Horizons,” she said. “I have to be in here [her store], I have no time, and they find me something like that. You can’t get that online.”
‘Gotta keep moving forward’
While shops and shop owners spend weeks prepping for the Christmas season — ordering new products, decorating the store and enacting a marketing plan — they said there’s not much you can do to prepare for what were at first spontaneous and unannounced protests.
“I don’t know what to tell (customers),” Birchard said. “I don’t have any answers.”
Demare added, “It’s almost impossible to prepare for stuff like this. Our store has six employees, between both stores we have 14 employees. We’re actually the livelihood of all these local people, and there are protestors coming in from other states to disrupt the businesses.”
So they move forward. Lewis said he’s put a lot of focus on catering and that that side of his business has improved.
“I’ve gotta keep moving forward,” he said.
Demare is the tresaurer and a board member of the Pittsboro Business Association, which is exactly what it sounds like. She said the PBA has kept going, particularly with the monthly First Sunday events and the tree lighting earlier this month. The events continue on Thursday, December 19, from 5-8 p.m. with the Third Thursday event, during which multiple vendors will stay open late as part of a downtown-wide event.
Birchard says that business community has stayed strong and resilient in light of the fireworks in their backyard.
“The one thing that I really think every business that I know does volunteering,” she said. “We all really care about building community, and that’s why it’s sort of heartbreaking when you see people at each other’s throats instead of coming together.”
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.