Local Businesses Slosh Through Mud Season

Author: Deborah Jones

Vermont, hailed as a natural playground for the continent even before the downhill ski industry was established, has long charmed out-of-staters with its striking mountains and quaint villages. Tourism, it seems, is as deeply rooted in Vermont's economy as milk and maple syrup.

Indeed, the Vermont Tourism Data Center (VTDC) found that in fiscal year 2000 about 12.2 million people visited Vermont. American tourists to Vermont contributed $2.6 billion in direct expenditures, resulting in a total impact of $4.2 billion on the state's economy. Their spending contributed to 75,241 jobs and ultimately generated $1.4 billion worth of personal income for Vermonters.

With an abundance of outdoor activities including downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, leaf peeping, camping, hiking, boating and biking, it comes as no surprise that the summer, fall and winter of 2000 reeled in $1.4, $1.14 and $1.15 billion, respectively. Spring, on the other hand, provides for a few slow months for shops, restaurants, hotels and services catering to visitors.

The problem is simple: tourists do not care for mud season any more than the locals do. Come April, most Northeasterners would rather jet off to a beach than come to a place that is both cold and soggy. The result is a nearly two-thirds drop in tourist expenditures during that quarter of the year. VTDC reported just $416 million in estimated total economic impact for the spring 2000 tourist season.

The plunge in visitors is evident in the so-called gold towns, such as Manchester and Stowe, as the ski slopes clear out. Hotels have vacancies, restaurants are less populated and, with the reduced crowds, Saturday trips to Killington actually become feasible. However, these trends also affect businesses in Middlebury.

Local shop owners often report lagging sales in the transition period between winter snow and summer sun, but they are affected to different degrees depending on their clientele. Specialty shops appealing primarily to out-of-towners are hit much harder than those serving the local population with staple products.

Woody Jackson '70, creator of the world-famous Holstein cow pictures on Ben & Jerry's ice cream packaging, owns Holy Cow on Main Street. The shop offers prints of pastoral scenes and a variety of cow-related novelties. During the low season, Jackson's store takes precautionary steps to cushion the business cycle. "We try not to spend money, close on Monday and cut back on staff if possible," Jackson explained.

Jackson also noted that Holy Cow's "low season is almost January through April." Middlebury storeowners' weakest months do not necessarily coincide perfectly with the spring calendar quarter — sales often drop off after the New Year and are recovering by Memorial Day. Located about an hour away from the closest major mountain resorts and 40 plus minutes from Burlington or Rutland, Middlebury, neither ski town nor city, faces a long winter and mud season slump.

Yet companies make do, often devising some creative solutions to their dilemma. The Middlebury Inn on Court House Square has been running a variety of specials to draw in potential customers. Some of the tactics they employed include Internet only deals, day passes for guests to Vermont Sun and Fitness, "Family Legacy" workshop weekends and an upcoming "Inn-triguing" weekend in which guests can participate in a "whodunit" detective game.

The Alpine Shop on the corner of Main Street and Merchant's Row has taken a slightly different course to ride out the low season: serving locals. Buyer Paula Simmons explained that in the past several months the store has made an effort to expand and vary its inventory to appeal to a wider range of tastes and pocketbooks. The ski and bike shops remain, but customers will notice a wider selection of adult and children's apparel. This change was made with the intention of both softening the ups and downs of the seasonal market trends and providing the town with a sort of department store where they can find staples and unique items without going to Burlington.

"We certainly see an impact of tourists coming in and out of town but because we're trying to carry a greater product mix that serves locals, we're starting to see less of an impact of tourists on our business cycle," Simmons said.

Nevertheless, the Alpine Shop has not forgotten the out-of-towners and will be running mountain bicycle tours this summer in cooperation with the Waybury Inn in East Middlebury. It also still takes steps to keep its business moving during the slower months. "During the downtime we're pretty proactive about creating promotions," Simmons added, noting the success of last month's March Madness clearance, which has now spilled over into April.

Still, Simmons and other proprietors find themselves looking forward to the end of mud season when people, weary of indoor malls, are happy to shop door to door again, the Summer Language Schools usher in a new group of potential customers and the sun returns to the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley.