Downtown Arcata is seen as a haven for successful small businesses; however, a youth-consumer presence is fading and local shops are struggling.
For the past two decades, there has been a chain restaurant limit in Arcata to help promote local businesses and grow our small economy. This has characterized Arcata as a place where small shops, farms, and restaurants can thrive either in-store or at the farmer’s market. However, as one walks around the Arcata Plaza on a Saturday morning there is an obvious age demographic primarily present.
“I feel like the demographic is mostly older people who are retired,” Hazel Neukom said. Neukom’s family owns a fruit farm and sells produce at the Farmer’s Market. “I hear a lot of [Arcata High students] saying, ‘Oh, I go to the farmer’s market,’ but I’m there every weekend and I never see them. I think it’s an idea that a lot of people love, but there’s not a lot of execution.”
As a town with over 8,000 students attending Cal Poly Humboldt and over 1,100 students attending Arcata High School, there should be a lot more student support for local businesses. Long-standing shops in Arcata have relied on student support for decades.
“I would say, in the long run, students are the backbone of our business,” Carla Hayes, current owner and manager of Bubbles, a bath and beauty shop located in downtown Arcata for over 50 years, said.
There is no doubt about the impact small businesses have on the large-scale economy of our country, but why young people are important specifically, is often overlooked.
“Young people have a massive amount of disposable income,” government and economics teacher Adam Pinkerton said.“Many businesses target younger consumers because they’re generally not paying taxes and most don’t pay rent. Just think about how much money is spent every day here at Arcata High at lunch, it’s a ton of money.”
While most Arcata residents agree that we have a wonderful downtown, it has suffered the past couple of years.
“Last spring was hard to get through,” Hayes said. “It was really, really hard. There were weeks in March and April when nobody was downtown. I mean, it was just a ghost town.”
Arcata is a town full of students. The youth of our community must choose to shop locally.
“If you don’t buy it downtown, downtown won’t be there,” Hayes said.
