Local Businesses Adapt to Summer, Economy

Local stores in Western Springs are looking for creative and cost-effective ways to advertise in the midst of the continuing economic instability. The summer season highlights their need to adapt to adverse business conditions.

“As far as the town as a whole, you start seeing people leaving town.  They’re going to their summer homes.  They’re going on vacations,” said Joe Lane, store manager of and president of the Western Springs Business Association (WSBA).

Lane said the organization is not extremely active during the summer, but WSBA does host such events as the Sidewalk Sale and the Gathering on the Green that help keep businesses in contact with their costumers.

Al Enzbigilis is the owner of and participates in Gathering on the Green every year. “You might get somebody who’s never sampled some of our wares and they can see how good it is, so it does help a lot,” he said.

Individual businesses are working on creative ways to get potential customers into their stores both in and out of summer.

For example, the has gotten its name into the running community partly by being a main sponsor of the Tower Trot for three decades.

Also, puts on a Ladies’ Night for women to meet contractors and vendors, and the store hosts seminars on how to complete home improvement projects.

Linda Johnson, the president of Village True Value Hardware, plans to host more seminars in the future.  “It’s product awareness.  It’s knowledge awareness. It’s an opportunity for people who may not have been in the store before to see the store,” she said.

However, some of the town’s many small businesses are finding it increasing difficult to advertise with a bad economy.

“We have to watch the money we spend on advertising because we’re a small business. The way the economy’s been, those are all the things you have to watch, those supply costs and advertising costs,” said Enzbigilis.

The Fruit Store, which has been in Western Springs since the 1920s, can rely much more on word-of-mouth advertising than other stores.

“In the slower seasons we advertise to keep our nose out there and keep our name out there,” Johnson said. Her hardware store is similar to other businesses that do not share the same level of name recognition as Fruit Store, Casey’s Market, and .

WSBA works to make sure its members have support in a business community that is often overshadowed by the larger and nearby Hinsdale, and La Grange.

WSBA has a newly created marketing committee that “was created to start marketing the town,” Lane said, and its shop local campaign is another initiative meant to support its members.

Lane said, “Hopefully we will be getting Western Springs’ name out there and what businesses we have to offer because this is a great town. We have a lot to offer. Anybody coming through, they just need to know that we’re here.”