The holiday season is an important time for all retailers, including downtown Hartford merchants.
The holiday season is an important time for all retailers, including downtown Hartford merchants.
Nearly a dozen center-city small businesses, including Morneault's Stackpole Moore Tryon and The Tobacco Shop, got a head start on holiday sales, participating in the recent nationwide “Small Business Saturday'' promotion that encourages consumers to trade exclusively with locally owned retailers.
Business For Downtown Hartford, a nonprofit advocate for center-city merchants, and 11 of its members offered sales specials and discounts to customers who visited their locations the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Pratt Street retailers may get another boost this holiday season, with the resumption of Winterfest Hartford and the expansion of First Night '18 activities on New Year's Eve to the retail strip. On First Night, “Paris 1937'' will feature piped and live jazz music along Pratt Street, said Hartford Guides principal Michael T. McGarry.
The Hartford Parking Authority is also trying to help downtown merchants by introducing a reduced-fee holiday schedule for some of its metered spaces.
