Burnet businesses put out welcome mat with ‘come-on-back’ attitude

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

BURNET — When somebody stops at the Burnet Antique Mall, they’re bound to find something interesting – including a life-size Santa Claus in the window.

But if they can’t find just what they’re looking for, owner John Will doesn’t mind picking up the phone and calling some of the other local shops to find out if they have what the customer wants.

To some people, sending a customer to another shop might not sound like a good business practice. But Will doesn’t see it that way.

“We help each other out,” Will said of the small “mom-and-pop” shops in Burnet. “If I don’t have what somebody wants, I don’t want them driving all over town trying to find it and wasting a lot of time, or worse, leaving for somewhere else. So we all take care of each other.”

That’s the Burnet way.

Kim Biggerstaff of DragonTails and Digital Relfections agreed.

“That’s one of the things that makes shopping in Burnet special,” she said. “We want people to come here and find what they want because then they’ll stay here and shop instead of somewhere else like Austin.”

DragonTails, an upscale children’s consignment store that has also began offering women’s and men’s clothing, is one of the Burnet stores that make shopping the Highland Lakes town unique — and fun. While people could drive to Austin for some of the same merchandise, a quick look around makes one realize it wouldn’t be at a better price.

“People like coming here because we do have a lot of good, quality clothes at a cost less than they’d find in Austin. In fact, we get a lot of people who come out here,” Biggerstaff said.

But getting the word out about shopping Burnet is still requiring some effort. In the past several years, area shop owners and merchants formed the Burnet Association of Merchants, a loose-knit organization. At first, it focused on the businesses on the downtown courthouse square.

“Now, we have businesses from all over Burnet,” Will said. “We’re all working together to promote shopping in Burnet.”

BAM works with the Burnet Chamber of Commerce, the city of Burnet Economic Development Corp. and any other organization interested in supporting shopping in Burnet.

Recently, BAM earned its nonprofit status, allowing it to become an even bigger player in promoting Burnet shopping and business.

Even before that, BAM held annual events to draw people into Burnet including a recent city-wide garage sale. The latest is a Spot the Dot event in which participating businesses (about 16) place little dots on merchandise, and if customers “spot” it, they get a discount on the item.

But the heart of the Burnet shopping experience remains in the folks behind the counter.

“There’s so many unique stores here in Burnet, not just on the square,” Will said. “I think that’s one of the great strengths of Burnet. We have some incredible stores, but there’s some equally incredible people who own them and run them.”

“These small, independent stores — the mom and pops — well, they are a big part of Burnet,” he added.

Burnet advocates hope to attract more businesses. Will pointed out Burnet boasts a good number of antique, thrift and vintage stores.

“One of the things we’re working on is making Burnet the antique capital of Central Texas,” he said. “We want people to think of Burnet when it comes to antique shopping. And if people come for the antiques, they’re going to eat in the restaurants, buy gas here and do other things.”

He and other shop owners have put together a map and a list of Burnet-area antique, thrift and vintage stores they keep close at hand. If a customer comes in looking at antiques, Hill doesn’t mind handing them a map that points out other similar businesses.

“If they’re happy with their experience here, they’ll come back,” he said. “And the next time, they may bring somebody else.”

And that’s one of the things Biggerstaff thinks sets Burnet apart from larger markets such as the Austin metro area.

“We want people to feel welcome here,” she said.

Getting people to shop in Burnet and locally sometimes feels like a challenge.

“There are people who live here who don’t know the shops on the square are even here or that there are a number of great small businesses in town,” Will said. “But we’re working on getting the word out. Once they step in, I think they’ll want to come back.”

daniel@thepicayune.com