The Columbia Police Department held a Public Safety Meeting on Wednesday to provide advice and tips to store owners and employees for the upcoming holiday season in the Marion Room at the Marion County Development Partnership.
Columbia Police Chief Michael Kelly advised that now is the time to be looking for suspicious activities. He said criminals are doing their homework to prepare for the holidays just like the rest of us. Criminals are learning the routines of the stores and employees so that when the opportunity presents itself, they will do what they can.
"If you see something is not right, I want you to call us. If you get that gut feeling that something is not right, you need to trust that sense and call us," Kelly said.
Kelly said he wants everything to work out as safely as possible, this holiday season, so everyone will be able to enjoy all of the festivities.
MCDP President Lori Watts provided economic impact information about the previous downtown events. Watts said last year the MCDP was able to access a mobile data foot tracker count that allowed them to determine the number of people who came to Columbia.
"Even last year during the pandemic, we had 20,000 more visits in the downtown area than we did the year before," she said.
She said in 2019, there were 164,000 visits in December to the downtown area, making it 184,000 visits in 2020. The information came from anonymous cell phone data the MCDP was able to access.
Watts said she was recently at a meeting where she learned the projection this year is for more people to shop at brick and mortar stores than online. In the next seven weeks with the event going on downtown, the anticipation is a large influx of people will be visiting Columbia.
"They (shoppers) want to get out; last year they had to do online," she said.
The economic impact felt in Columbia in 2019 was $8.9 million during the month of December, and last year during December there was a 9.5% increase in sales tax. At this point, the total direct and indirect economic impact of the event has been $15 million, Watts said.
"That's a huge boost to all of our businesses," she said.
Mike Lowery, store manager at Walmart, spoke to the audience about the importance of keeping a smile on everyone's face this season. He reminded people to remember as salespeople, first responders and others, that they do not know what that shopper or visitor has gone through. The experience the visitor receives, either good or bad, will determine if that visitor will come back.
"Hopefully we will deliver a 'Walt Disney' experience that they will never forget," Lowery said.
Lowery spoke of the advantages the smaller shops have over Walmart because the smaller stores can make the shopping experience more personal for the people. He said he wants people to go downtown and shop. He knows a lot of times those same shoppers will probably stop at his store to buy something there that they could not purchase downtown.
"We are all one team, Team Columbia," Lowery said.
Jacob Harrison with Experience Columbia reminded everyone the dates for the opening of the ice rink (Nov. 20), lighting downtown (Nov. 27) and the Christmas Parade (Dec. 4).
Food and beverages were provided by Walmart.
