North Star featured in the Providence JournalNovember 23, 2007
Wickford Sales Pitch By Paul Davis Journal Staff Writer
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Two months ago Janelle Feigley took a big step. She left her job and home in Philadelphia, and opened her first retail store, on Brown Street in Wickford.
“I had always wanted a store,” says Feigley, the owner of Gossip, a trendy clothing, art and jewelry store.
She and her husband, an airline pilot, scoured spots in Connecticut, Newport and Westerly before they chose Wickford, she says.
Feigley’s timing is good.
After years of low-key promotion, the Wickford Village Association is working on an aggressive plan to promote the area through a revamped Web site, more events and new advertising designed to lure more visitors to the some 80 stores, restaurants and businesses on a handful of streets near the water.
“The goal is to get the Wickford name out there, beyond Rhode Island, and to establish the village as a family destination,” says Nancy Fahrenholz, a member of the marketing committee and the owner of Canvasworks, on Main Street.
The push comes just in time for the holiday shopping season, which traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving. Store owners have been busy replacing their fall decorations — cornstalks, mums and pumpkins — with trees and lights. And next weekend is the village’s annual Festival of Lights.“We want to reach a larger demographic than in the past,” says Nicole Reilly, co-president of the association and the owner of American Bay Outfitters.
New advertising — including TV spots and a color brochure — will feature the village’s 18th- and 19th-century houses and harbor views.
“It’s more than just merchants and stores,” says Reilly, who quit a financial services job to open a store overlooking the harbor.
Kostas Karampetsos, the owner of Tavern by the Sea, on West Main Street, agrees.
“We have a marina within walking distance of the village,” a big draw in the summer, he says. And in the winter, there are carolers on the streets.
“You don’t see that anymore,” says Karampetsos, a Johnson & Wales University graduate who grew up near the water in Greece.
THE PUSH FOLLOWS an earlier effort by several retailers to boost business over the summer.
For years, the town has depended on the Festival of Lights in December and the Wickford Art Festival in July to draw visitors to the village.
But Terry Kelly, the owner of the Wellness Store, and Melissa Fisher, the owner of The Book Garden, thought retailers could do more. They helped create the Wickford Community Collaborative and organized several meetings between retailers and residents, including one with Town Planner Jon Reiner.
The effort galvanized some retailers. But it also split the village, and the plan stalled. Still, the idea — coupled with a new event, Daffodil Days, which attracted new customers — sparked an interest in doing more, says Reilly.
AT ONE POINT Karla P. Driscoll, executive director of the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce, asked a local firm to help retailers launch a marketing plan. April Williams McCrory, president of North Star Marketing, agreed to help — for free.
McCrory and her staff met with store owners every Wednesday for two months. After eight weeks, the owners “grabbed the idea” and started asking other retailers to pony up for a new ad campaign, says McCrory.
It’s a long overdue move, she adds.
“Wickford is, sadly, one of the state’s best-kept secrets.”
The Village Association and Chamber of Commerce have already had some success. A Harbor Festival in late September pulled in some 4,000 people in one day.
“It’s all about perception. Events like the Harbor Festival help people think of Wickford as a fun place to visit,” says Barbara Cullen, who moved her store, Mystic Scrimshanders, from Mystic, Conn., to Wickford earlier this year.
“The marketing is starting to work,” she says.
“I had a good September and October.”
Wickford Village’s annual Festival of Lights kicks off Thursday at 6 p.m. with the town tree lighting and a visit from Santa at Updike Park, Brown and West Main streets. The North Kingstown Community Youth Chorus and the Lafayette Band will perform.
Next Friday, a cappella caroling will be heard throughout the village from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and Santa arrives at the Town Dock at 6 aboard the Sea Princess. A live nativity scene will be performed from 6 to 7:30 at St. Paul’s Church on Main Street, and you can take a $2 hayride, leaving from the parking lot by the Town Dock, from 6:30 to 8. The North Kingstown Community Chorus carols in Updike Park from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and most shops are open until 9. On Saturday, Dec. 1, have breakfast with Santa from 8 to 11 a.m. at the North Kingstown Community Center on Beach Street ($10 per adult, $5 kids 12 and under). Santa arrives again at the Town Dock at 12:30 p.m., and hayrides are offered from 1 to 4 while the Parallel String Band performs holiday music. From 3:15 to 4 p.m., The Ladies of the Rolling Pin, a Border Morris Dance team, performs at Updike Park. At 7:30, the North Kingstown Community Chorus and Youth Chorus give a Winter Concert at North Kingstown High School, 150 Fairway Drive. Again, most shops are open until 9.
On Sunday, Dec. 2, Santa arrives one more time at 12:30 p.m., and hayrides, the Parallel String Band and the Ladies of the Rolling Pin perform are on the same schedule as Saturday. The festival’s events close out at 3 p.m. as the Winter Concert is repeated at the high school. << Back to News |