Woodstock Shops Discuss Post-COVID Business
It’s been more than three years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. While the pandemic shook all aspects of the functioning world as we knew it, the arts were one of the hardest sectors that were hit. However, in the town of Woodstock, New York, shops have managed to stay afloat and surprisingly, even performed better following the initial COVID lockdown.
Lynne Van Name is the proprietor of The Rare Bear, a toy shop located on Tinker Street in Woodstock. The Rare Bear has been in business for nearly 34 years, so Van Name has seen her fair share of changes to the business.
“When we first re-opened [following lockdown], people were out shopping,” Van Name says. “People weren’t flying to destinations, so they were coming for the weekend or for the day, and they were within driving distance. So part of it was pretty good.”
For Van Name, the biggest struggle has been finding employees.
“As far as being able to hire someone, that was an issue because nobody really wanted to work, and I know stores and restaurants have struggled with that for a while,” she says.
Following the pandemic, Van Name says that the most surprising thing has been the change in the shop’s clientele.
The Rare Bear’s clientele is mostly made up of tourists, with a small number of people being locals. Additionally, following the pandemic, there were a lot of families who moved upstate and now reside in the Woodstock area full-time, which has been good for the shop.
“After the COVID situation though, you have to also take into consideration the housing crisis that’s going on because it’s all AirBnB’s in the area, so all of the local people who lived in these apartments and houses have had to move away,” Van Name says.
As for weathering the current economic climate, Van Name says that at the moment, the shop is on the slow side. She also says that merchandise has become more expensive.
“Even though the numbers are up, I may not be making more sales,” she says. “The items are more expensive, and that’s what’s keeping the numbers looking the same.”
Jeff Cuiule, co-owner of Mirabai, a spiritual and metaphysical bookstore located on Mill Hill Road in Woodstock, echoed many of Van Name’s statements regarding bouncing back from the pandemic.
“When lockdown hit, it was financially devastating,” Cuiule says. “I think that was the first time we had ever been closed for more than one day at a time.”
The shop was able to bounce back, but not without a little help from the community. Cuiule shares that he and his wife, Audrey, who own Mirabai together, started a GoFundMe campaign at the start of the pandemic.
“[The campaign] was quite successful and spoke to the loyalty of our customer base,” Cuiule says. “There were lots of people who stepped up. I don’t know if we could have continued without that.”
Following the anxiety that the year 2020 brought, Mirabai had a record-breaking year for sales in 2021.
“Once 2021 hit, sales were quite robust,” he says. “A very large number of people weren’t able to do leisure travel on a plane or any other form of mass transportation that they felt was safe except for their car, so that left a lot of people visiting town for the day.”
Similar to Van Name, Cuiule also shares that Mirabai’s customer base changed after the pandemic. In addition to regular customers feeling safe to return, Cuiule also mentioned the large number of people who have relocated upstate from New York City.
Moreover, Cuiule says that there has been an influx of younger adults to the area and the shop. “I think one of the reasons is that young people feel less apprehensive about shopping in a post-COVID environment because young people, generally speaking, are less vulnerable,” he says. “So there may be some apprehension for some older customers, but by and large, everyone has returned.”
Now, Cuiule says the initial excitement following the lockdown has worn off, and that Mirabai is now stable and back to where they were sales-wise before to COVID.
Despite the current inflation rates, Cuiule says that Mirabai’s prices have remained quite stable.
“The prices of books have pretty much remained stable. Book prices didn’t inflate like some other kinds of goods,” he says.
Mirabai isn’t just a bookstore, although that is their primary business. They also sell crystals, statues, jewelry, and tarot cards, and even provide an array of workshops and private guidance.
“Most of those goods are imported from the far east and from Asia, but [inflation] hasn’t really impacted our prices, and if it did, it was temporary.”
Now, Mirabai and The Rare Bear seem to be faring quite well, given all of the obstacles that they have faced over the past three years, and both proprietors acknowledge that it would not have been possible without their customer base.
Cuiule says that they are always grateful to their customers, who have kept Mirabai in business for over 20 years.
“They really do value us,” Cuiule said.
