May 30, 2008

Downtown Woodstock loses boutique to rising costs and a sluggish economyBy Jon MacNeillBugleObserver.com

Williams and Company set up shop three years ago after a retail exodus left downtown Woodstock a virtual ghost town. Within a year the historic Main Street was once again bustling with a number of novel shops.

Now one of the original boutiques is out of the mix, and according to Lisa Keenan, who owned Williams and Company, a sluggish economy is to blame.

Keenan went out of business earlier this month, and told the Bugle-Observer she had little choice in the matter.

“When I looked at the numbers and did the math, it was an easy decision to make,” said Keenan.

“I ultimately didn’t want to close, but from a practical business point-of-view, it just wasn’t going to work.”

Keenan said the rising cost of food and fuel meant fewer customers coming into her shop with money to spend.

Williams and Company was a specialty items store, she said, and in an economy where people are paying more for essentials, they have less money for indulgences.

“The number of people with disposable incomes coming in was going down, and my costs kept going up,” she said.

Her products came from mainly overseas sources.

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