Business partners Margaret Ann Borland and Tami McBryde pulled an “all-nighter” on Thursday to have their new store ready to open today.
As of Thursday evening, Borland told The Dispatch electricians and carpenters were still installing lighting and shelving at Mira Mira — a new boutique clothing, jewelry and gift shop on Main Street — to prepare for a next-day opening. Plus, Borland, who also worked 20 years as a caterer, still had to make cookies to welcome the store’s first customers.
Waiting until Monday to open would have been much easier, Borland admitted, but then Mira Mira would have missed out on Christmas Open House.
“It’s added pressure because we’re having to decorate for Christmas on top of all the things you’d normally have to do to open a store,” she said. “But I love Christmas, so it will be fabulous.”
Mira Mira is one of 22 downtown stores participating in Christmas Open House, which Columbus Main Street hosts each year on the first full weekend of November to mark the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The event runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today and Saturday, as well as 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Columbus Main Street Director Barbara Bigelow said 22 downtown businesses are participating this year, offering discounts and door prizes to customers throughout the weekend. Six of those businesses are first-time event participants, she said, and two — Mira Mira and Slice of Heaven’s Sweet Spot bakery on Fifth Street North — chose the open house to open their doors for the first time, period.
A record 14 businesses, Bigelow said, will be open during Sunday hours, promising to make that day much more bustling than past years.
“We have merchants of all ages, with very diverse backgrounds, and the merchandise is great,” she said. “You can buy something for everyone.”
The event also boasts two grand prizes for drawings, each valued at more than $500 that include gift certificates from open house business participants.
“We have a very strong Main Street program that works hard to draw people downtown and maintain the vibrancy of downtown,” Bigelow said. “All our merchants are local, and they want to participate. … Every time we have (any event), we hear from our merchants that it was ‘better than last year,’ which speaks well for the downtown businesses and also shows the community supports us.”
Weather this weekend is supposed to be sunny with high temperatures in the 80s — unseasonably warm for November but a forecast that promises to be shopper-friendly. Even if it does rain, Bigelow said she doesn’t think it will much matter.
“People like to shop, rain or shine,” she said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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