By Mary Ruple
Until now, it has been a practice for many of the small businesses in Vicksburg to be closed on Monday. In fact, only Vicksburg Hardware, Tanya’s Girl Garage, Hills Pharmacy, Home Again Consignments, and Pet Emporium & Textiles have been open for business this day of the week.
However, the village of Vicksburg has undergone many positive changes to increase traffic downtown in the past few months. Now the small business owners have decided to follow this trend and make a positive change of their own. Starting on January 1, 2015, most of the small businesses downtown will now be open every Monday. This includes Mandy’s Candies, The Cutting Edge Hair Salon, Taco Bob’s, Nick’s Barber Shop, Ruthie’s Paint and Yarn Shoppe, Antique Shop, and others that will be open all day.
Local businesses realize the importance of meeting customer needs and are excited about the change. Evie Hall, owner of Home Again Consignments, is one of these business owners. According to Hall, “We have always been open on Mondays. We are excited about this change and look forward to all of the additional businesses being open on Monday, as it will create more traffic downtown.”
New business owners are also looking forward to the benefits associated with this change. Tammy Barth, owner of Eclectic Opus & Organics explains, “Before opening the store, I had out-of-town guests with me and we were walking around hoping to shop in the village. However, not many stores were open. That is one reason why we decided to be open on Mondays.”
Mandy Kokales, owner of Mandy’s Candies, will also be doing business on Mondays. She said, “Now that we have Water Street coffee and espresso drinks, I feel the need to be open on Monday to accommodate my customers. The new hours will be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.” In order to better coincide with her new business model, Kokales decided to change the name of her business to Mandy’s Candies Café. It is hoped that this is just one of many positive changes that will better accommodate the needs of customers in the South County area.