LACONIA — For 37 years Warren Clement, now 79, and his wife Martha ran the Sundial Shop, a downtown anchor store that morphed from selling cards, gifts and books into an emporium that included videos, candy, a bakery, a JC Penney catalog store and arts supplies and lessons from local artist, Larry Frates.
The store gave customers what they were looking for, Clement said, and allowed passersby to walk through from Main Street to Pleasant Street. On the way, they usually found something they needed or wanted to buy. Clement’s mantra was, “If a customer’s unhappy, solve the problem. Generally, it’s easy to solve. Don’t let them leave unhappy.”
Forty to 50 years ago, when Clement bought what was then a college bookstore, Laconia was a regional hub of shops and services. Back then, in the business community, “You had people who were young, had young ideas and youthful stubbornness, and we all knew about customer service.” Today, Clement said, there’s a new critical mass of young people with energy, experience and ideas.
What Clement would like to see now is new brick-and-mortar bookstore for buyers who like to browse, and more sit-down, dine-in restaurants. It’s also important to turn downtown into a hometown by including professionals, such as a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist, a realtor and insurance broker, which also bring foot traffic.
Downtown’s glistening nugget to lure locals, arts lovers and tourists is the restored Colonial Theatre, now a destination for audiences who will drive to see iconic or intriguing-sounding shows. During five to seven performances over three days from July 30 through August 1, comedian Bob Marley pulled in roughly 5,000 ticket-buyers, Clement said.
“If they can eat, shop and see and movie, then eat and shop, you can keep ‘em,” said Clement, quoting James Rouse, who developed Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 1977. “Restaurants, entertainment something to keep people downtown, plus City Hall, a post office, a library and churches. All these pieces are important parts of America’s downtown. With these things in it, it’s your hometown. That’s the fabric that makes a downtown.”
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