Reporting Trip: Cillies
To get a better understanding for how locally owned businesses compete with large corporations in Athens, I visited Cillies. Cillies is one of the locally owned clothing and vintage stores located in downtown Athens on Clayton Street.
People often visit here to find reduced prices on fun and different clothing, that they would not at other chain clothing stores also in the Athens area. I often find myself shopping here for reduced prices on fun costumes, or dresses.
I spoke to the owner of the store, Cat Bobon. Cat told me the store has been around for 10 years and she has been working here since the beginning. Originally, Cat worked for Depalmas for close to 25 years. She now personally loves running her own business. The store has a ton of different vendors from all over. In terms of how larger corporations or businesses compete with Cillies, Cat says that honestly people shop at the Urban Outfitters next store and then find themselves wandering into Cillies since the location of the two stores is so close. This might not be how Cat would want to draw in business but i think she is simply happy with the time we are living in that she’s getting any.
Cat stated,“Covid sucks, it’s taking all our business”. There is no doubt this is true. It appears to be a virus that is hurting small businesses everywhere in Athens. Cat explained that her locally owned business has definitely taken a hit in the past year. I immediately noticed at the beginning of our conversation, that Cat seemed bothered and frustrated with business in the past year, which is more than understandable. Small locally owned businesses seem to have taken a larger hit from the virus than larger corporations. For example, Cillies has definitely been impacted significantly compared to the chain Urban Outfitters. I think the Athens community needs to understand the needs of these small businesses, and respect the drastic need for business in order for these locally owned businesses to survive and be successful during this time.
