For some brick and mortar businesses, establishing an online presence pre-pandemic may not have been a priority. Walk-in business was good enough to keep them in business, so perhaps building an online website store was not needed. Plus, a shop owner is quite busy with customers who walk into the store, so spending a lot of time online to build a web shop is not easy. That all changed with the shutdown of Main Street back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the doors shut and foot traffic disappeared.

Overnight, the digital way of reaching a customer was the only way to reach a customer. Any store without a social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok was cut off from their customer base (unless they had been sending newsletters, which is even less of a percentage). Anyone who did not have an ecommerce website lost the ability to sell to the customer stuck at home - looking for something to do, or who needed that special something only available at the boutique.

Some brick and mortar shops in Beacon have not committed to the daunting task of establishing an online presence - it could be because they think it’s too hard, or feel not tech-savvy enough. When once they felt it a waste of time and money if not enough customers use it, that percentage shifted as no customers are currently walking through the door.

Boutiques Build Their Webshops

A Little Beacon Blog traveled around the web to find new or enhanced websites that popped in some of Beacon’s Main Street businesses up post-pandemic. With so many resources available now to sell online, shop owners don’t need to be coding experts to get one up and running. Required, however, is a lot of patience to build it, and good ideas for how the shop owner wants the web shopping experience to flow. Below is a sampling of brick and mortars who expanded online:

Blackbird Attic

Website Platform: WordPress with WooCommerce

Blackbird Attic, a consignment shop on Beacon’s east end of Main Street, already had a website but didn’t convert it to an online store until recently. Prior to that, they utilized their Instagram account (@blackbirdattic) to host pop-up shops and gather sales through Instagram via Direct Messaging (DMs). Owner Michelle Caves-Deal tells us “Selling on Instagram definitely works - people like to see the items live in Instastories, They've said it feels like they’re back shopping in person…”

But this does come with some extra steps for shop owner Michelle in order for the sale to happen, like sharing additional details and photos with the customer prior to purchasing. Being a consignment shop, she needs to create two invoices, merchant account and one for the WooCommerce software they use for sales.

The Underground Beacon

Website Platform: WordPress, WooCommerce, eBay

2020 has already been a challenging year for The Underground Beacon, a well known comic book store with weekly comic book release days and in-person gaming events. First, they faced the risk of closing due to the usual pressures of personal life (family loss) and revenue streams to pay the rent, only to be saved by a new partner just earlier in March.

The shop has been hosting the weekly Magic The Gathering sessions on Zoom. They also created a website to sell t-shirts promoting love to the store in addition to selling comics through their eBay store.

Comic book shops were hit pretty hard when Diamond Comic Distributors - the main distributor for most comic book publishers including Marvel and DC Comics, announced a halt to all product distribution on March 23rd. This meant comic shops, like The Underground Beacon, would not get new merchandise coming in until further notice. Thankfully, at the beginning of May, Diamond announced they will resume distribution May 20th. Marvel and DC Comics have announced are being shipped to stores beginning in late May 2020.

Flora Good Times

Website Platform: Squarespace for the main website; Square for the Delivery Shopping

As we shared in this recent article, Corrine from Flora Good Times was concerned dealing with such a tactile store “from seeing the plants and flowers to the smell of the shop itself” she says “it was such an unknown for me whether or not people would continue to shop at Flora through the computer.” She created a second website through Square just for local orders. This was convenient since they also use Square for their point-of-service sales. “It is easy to integrate into your inventory and create a delivery radius..” Speaking personally as a customer, it was super easy to place an order for delivery (twice!).

Still a new business with just 8 months under its belt, the plan for an online shop was in the cards but current circumstances really rushed that project. “I find that a lot of people are looking to spruce up their homes during this time, and adding a plant or some flowers to their quarantine definitely appears very popular!” says Corrine.

RAVEN ROSE

Flower shops for the longest time relied upon centralized flower delivery websites to host their flower bouquet options. Raven Rose on Beacon’s east end of Main Street has a large space, most of which is filled with home goods, despite their large floral business. Years ago when owner Courtney Sedor bought the former floral shop that was located there, she relied upon a florist website service for her ecommerce, which locked her in into different template and selling options. After the COVID-19 shut-down, she dove in and put her home goods online, and now is part of the “release” news when a shop owner puts something new up on the website.

LAST OUTPOST STORE

Website Platform: Shopify

Getting a website up and running quick was a concern for a few businesses. When starting a brick & mortar business, a website could be on the to-do list but building it in stages like how Last Outpost Store was doing.

While timing was of the essence, the Last Outpost store still wanted their website to capture the feel and vibe of their shop, while wanting the online experience to be as close to the interior shopping experience as possible.

Co-owner Allison Cimino was able to finish the site 2.5 weeks after their March 17th shut-down. Allison shares with A Little Beacon Blog: “The response has been really good. The local delivery has been great as well. I have been learning just how many locals really love our shop. That alone really drives me to want to see through this so we can be there for all of our customers when we return!”

BINNACLE BOOKS

Website Platform: IndieCommerce (Drupal)

Binnacle Books, the small independent bookstore located in the middle of Main Street, always had a website, but did not always have the ability to shop on that website. They started with a form you could fill out if you wanted to order any book (possibly any book in the world?), and they would process the order. Different weeks into the pandemic brought different iterations of their website. First the ordering of any book got more advanced, and then their book collection appeared online in a searchable organized fashion. Binnacle Books offers a monthly membership that locks in a discount on book prices, and devised a way to make it easy to checkout without using your credit card so that the shop keepers could credit it against your monthly membership card on file.

LUXE OPTIQUE

Website Platform: Squarespace

While Luxe Optique always had a website, they were dependent upon walk-in foot traffic. Glasses fitting on your face is a personal, physical experience. Over the years, they added the ability to buy the frames online in their Collections section of the website, and even play with the SALE button to give shoppers a discount. Luxe Optique confirms to A Little Beacon Blog that they have seen an increase to the eCommerce section during this time, and they have more to come: online contact lens ordering. “Not only can you order from us using a prescription from our doctors, but you can also use prescriptions from any other practice,” Luxe Optique tells A Little Beacon Blog. “It might seem common, but it’s not something a lot of privately owned practices do. We can’t wait for that to launch. Should be soon!”

While having an online presence allows you to expand your customer reach outside of the immediate area, it appears to be a pleasant surprise to shop owners that local residents are taking advantage and showing their support. Local customers love their shops, connecting with the owners, and want to support any way they can.

Visit A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide for a list of all of the shops on Beacon’s Main Street.