Sep 6, 2011

Merchants, Business Leaders Report Strong Holiday WeekendBy Ryan BentleyPetoskeyNews.com

Petoskey, MI – Even with relatively cool temperatures and rainy conditions at times, visitors found activities to keep them occupied around Emmet and Charlevoix counties during the Labor Day holiday weekend — and often, area merchants stood to benefit.

“On those cooler and rainy days when you can’t go golfing, you come to town,” said Meredith Brown, owner of the Kilwin’s Chocolates store in downtown Petoskey.

Brown said the Labor Day weekend was one of the stronger ones for her store in recent years. She hadn’t crunched numbers for the weekend as of early Tuesday, but Kilwin’s sales initially appeared solid for the holiday period, and traffic was steady up until the afternoon hours on Monday, when out-of-town visitors typically head home from holiday weekend trips.

A block to the north along Howard Street, Toad Hall gift shop owner Dave Carlson also sensed that the cool and sometimes wet weather may have worked in local merchants’ favor during the weekend.

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