Wide range of choices downtown
By CRYSTAL LINDELL - clindell@nwherald.com
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| A pedestrian walks by the Geneva Art Pottery in downtown Lake Geneva. (Justin Edmonds – jedmonds@nwherald.com) |
Many tourists may think of water-related activities when they plan a trip to Lake Geneva, but with more than 100 downtown stores, shopping also can be included on the vacation to-do list.
“When [people] come up, of course they like to ride on the boats and then have something to eat. But then they say ‘What are we going to do now?’” said George Hennerley, the city’s Chamber of Commerce director and executive vice president of the Lake Geneva Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “[Downtown] is a nice place to spend the afternoon and shop.”
The stores offer everything from clothing to flowers to home decor.
“There’s everything from a T-shirt ... all the way up to furnishing your mansion,” Hennerley said.
One of the most popular stores is Cornerstone Shop and Gallery, 214 Broad St. Customers can find home decor, gifts, local art, linens and baby items in the 8,500-square-foot store.
It’s set up so shoppers can stroll through different rooms, each of which are decorated in a different theme.
Owner Karin Bennett said she often receives customers from as far away as the Chicago area and Milwaukee.
“We have a large following of people who come to the store just as a destination,” she said.
Some tourists even buy furniture and then either bring it home in their SUV or have it delivered. Bennett said the store offers delivery to customers within a 60-mile radius.
“We have a wide range of products,” Bennett said. “There’s something for everybody. Anything from a $30 lamp to a $500 mirror for the home.”
A more recent addition to the downtown shopping scene is Geneva Art Pottery, 236 Broad St.
Owner Claire Berger-Bailey has run the store at W3403 County BB for about 20 years and opened up the downtown shop this past spring.
The shop offers pottery, paintings and sculpture from local artists.
“Most of our customers have a home on the lake, like a second home,” she said. “But we also get the tourists.”
Over on Main Street, there’s Lilypots Fresh Flowers, 647 W. Main St., Suite 200B. Aside from offering floral arrangements for weddings and events in the area, the store also has an on-site shop with flowers, gifts and candles, said owner Joanne Wright.
“Shopping is quite an important part of a lot of people’s vacations,” she said. “There’s a lot of small family owned shops [in Lake Geneva], and they want to get away from that strip mall style shopping.”
Wright is from England, she and said she follows European trends for her arrangements.
“We do a lot of silk arrangements, and we always have [arrangements] in the refrigerator,” she said.
Nearby, customers can shop for trendy clothes at Lola’s, 736 W. Main St. Owner Laura Thompson said her goal is to keep the prices reasonable and the clothes fresh.
“I try not to have anything over $100 in the store,” she said. “I get stuff in every week.”
There’s also Clear Water Outdoor, 744 W. Main St., which offers sports and lifestyle clothing and equipment, owner Sarah Schuster said.
“It’s everything from the more technical ... to organic cotton T-shirts,” she said.
And shoppers ready to use their new clothes even can rent a kayak straight from the shop.
“That’s a pretty big draw,” Schuster said. “A lot of people just walk in and say, ‘Let’s do that.’”
Hennerley said most of the stores are open seven days a week, some as late as 8 p.m. There’s also plenty of parking either on the north side of the downtown area or in angled parking along the streets.
“The shopping here’s just great,” he said. “The downtown has become rather specialized ... they realize you can’t just sell something you could buy at Wal-Mart.”
