Merchants in San Juan Bautista have formed an association to
assist the city and the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce in
shaking the commercial perception of the city’s arts and crafts
fairs by consumers and vendors alike.
Merchants in San Juan Bautista have formed an association to assist the city and the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce in shaking the commercial perception of the city’s arts and crafts fairs by consumers and vendors alike.
The San Juan Bautista Merchants Group, which exists in name only, can do things the Chamber of Commerce can’t.
“The chamber can only advertise the city as a whole,” said Terry Marburger, the chamber’s executive director. “We can’t advertise individual businesses. That’s where we’re different.”
When buyers come to San Juan for an arts and crafts fair, they don’t expect to see plastic squirt guns or other mass-produced items, said Allen Thomas, owner of San Juan Mercantile.
“They’re looking for hand-made goods,” he said.
The association has about 20 members and intends to double that number by the time the organizational process is completed, Thomas said.
“Once that’s done, we can better accomplish what we need to do to change our image,” he said. “Part of the problem is the economy, but the actual image of the city is not good. You need to have good vendors because if you don’t, you have no good buyers. We’re working together with the city and the chamber to make things better. We’re friends. We’re all in a battle for survival and we can help them to help us.”
The merchants association has members that also make up another group – the San Juan Bautista Art and Wine committee, which was formed to help with the Arts and Crafts Fair in September.
With the holiday season approaching, Patricia Bain, owner of Mrs. B’s Z-Place, sent a memo to local merchants suggesting they keep their doors open during El Teatro Campesino’s “Zoot Suit” and the annual production of “La Virgin Del Tepeyac” at Mission San Juan Bautista.
“We need to attract more people to come downtown,” Bain said. “We need to benefit from these events if we are going to survive.”
To that end, merchants in downtown San Juan will extend their business hours to 8 p.m. through December.
