Downtown Geneva stores to try longer hours for holiday shopping

Maybe you would like to pick up a little something for a present on your way home from work. Or, if you can get a baby sitter, go shopping after dinner.

Some downtown Geneva merchants are hoping that a campaign for "customer friendly" hours will get more of their fellow businesspeople to keep stores open in the evening, and to open on Sunday afternoons, at least for holiday shopping.

Larry Kaspar, a manger of Town and Country Gardens florist, is spearheading the effort. He's the newest member of the city's Downtown Partnership committee, having been appointed Monday.

So far, 37 stores have agreed to take part, from Nov. 28 through Dec. 23. They promise to stay open until at least 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

In return, they get a special banner from the city announcing they are open extra long.

"We realized that with two-income families they can't really shop if we close at 5, when they are just getting off work," Kaspar said.

Downtown shops have a hodgepodge of hours. Some routinely stay open late one or two nights a week. Others do it on Thursday nights in the summer, during a promotion organized by the city. In a 2007 city-sponsored marketing survey of downtown shoppers and Geneva households, "convenient hours" scored 3.7 on a 5-point scale, with 5 being "strongly agree" and 3 being "neutral." It was the second-lowest mark in 10 questions used to help gauge quality of the shopping experience. Only "public restrooms are well-marked and accessible" scored lower.

"It is really hard to get anybody to agree to have really standard hours," Kaspar said. City economic development officials are working on a proposal to merchants to have uniform hours yearlong.

Typically, Kaspar said, owners cite overhead costs, such as payroll, for their reluctance. Kaspar understands that, but warns that success might not show up immediately.

"It takes a long period of time to train a customer," he said.

Businesses have until Tuesday to sign up for the banner. An application can be found at downtowngeneva.go-ontheweb.com.