NAVASOTA, Texas — The three-concert series brings more foot traffic to downtown Navasota, which is where businesses get most of their customers.
- Local businesses say 75 percent of their sales come from foot traffic, which is people wondering through the streets and window shopping.
- In 2023, the City of Navasota says the first concert brought an 18 percent increase compared to the average visits on a Friday night, and the second concert brought a 29 percent increase.
- The new visitors are critical to downtown businesses, who says up to half of their first time visitors come back.
BROADCAST SCRIPT:
Most people walk into Circle P Antiques for the shopping — many come back for the friendly staff.
“We have the two cats in the building, so even if you're not into antiques or collectibles, a lot of people, once they know we have the cats here, they’ll come back to visit them. They know their names, how many years they've been here.”
To meet Penny and Amelia, you’d have to first wonder into the shop — that’s what events like Sounds of Summer help to bring.
“It's people who might not normally come into a shop like this — once they come in and they get the interaction they see that it's not just antiques, but 'Oh, you know, here's the Star Wars toy I had when I was a child'."
Last year’s event brought an increase in foot traffic to the shop Rebekkah Morgan manages, which translates to a big increase in revenue.
15ABC reached out to the City of Navasota to get an idea of how many people this event brought to town last year — a spokesperson says the first concert brought an 18 percent increase compared to the average visits on a Friday night, and the second concert brought a 29 percent increase — that’s good news for shopkeepers like Morgan, who says up to half of their first time visitors come back.
“If they come in and we interact with them, it's likely that they're going to come in again, and again and again.”
The concerts will be in downtown Navasota on June 14, July 19, and August 9.
You can expect to hear THE Texas Eagles Band, Mangopunch!, and Brown Sugar Band on those dates from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
