Falls seems like it’s finally here.
Last week though, temperatures soared into the 90s. And Staples High School students Abi Genser and Michael Lederer dropped in on downtown businesses whose wide-open doors spewed air conditioning onto the (large empty) sidewalks.
Excuses ranged from “the head office says it increases business” to “I’m not the owner. I don’t make those decisions.”
Abi and Michael were not impressed. They’re members of Westport’s new Earth Guardians group. Along with the Westport Green Task Force, Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Merchants Association, they encourage businesses to keep doors closed when the air conditioning — or heat — is on.
Of all the stores they visited — accompanied by Earth Guardians founder Carla Paiva and Green Task Force member Pippa Bell Ader — only one had its door closed.
Kudos to Marine Layer!
To be honest, I’d never heard of this store before Pippa emailed me.
But their closed door will make me more — not less — interested in checking it out.
With the availability of products on the internet, I will not support a store with its doors open. Suppoting local business only applies to stores with
Your post implies that every store on Main Street besides Marine Layer keeps theirs door open. Definitely not true! Athleta keeps their doors closed!
There is no competitive advantage to open doors if all Westport businesses follow the same protocol. When I feel cool (or warm) air spewing out of a retail establishment, I feel that I’m paying for that waste, in more ways than one. With the struggles brick and mortar stores are facing, it would seem they would be open to lowering fuel costs and meeting customer’s concern over waste and climate change.
In recent years I recall seeing signs that read:
We’re open, it’s cool inside.
We could also have:
We’re open, it’s warm inside.
I recommend that the Earth Guardians group do some research on what others have done to address this issue and what the sign should say. I’ll be glad to design prototype signs.
As a gesture of good faith, we could celebrate the autumnal and vernal equinoxes with open door celebrations.
Common merchandising lore: An open door will draw more browsers than a closed one. Browsers become buyers.