6-26-2023 11:19pm

Cloudcroft Street Vendors a Threat to Established Businesses?

Chris Edwards Editor

Cloudcroft trustees made a decision or possibly an exception to the standard business practices of the city center and in doing so set a precedent without considering longer term consequences to the established businesses within the downtown district.

The trustee's including the mayor approved with one, Trustee that being, Maynard, opposed, recently a street vendor to operate on the street of Burro Street, Cloudcroft’s MainStreet.

The local businesses are in an uproar because by letting one open without clear cut policies, procedures or ordinances they opened themselves to allowing others. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Consumers may like having sidewalk or permanent street side vendors at first. But without regulations, policies and a plan it could look like a 3rd World Flea market.

The bigger picture is Cloudcroft could end up with street vendors selling clothing, jewelry, barbeque, anything with little to no oversight, tax collection or safety considerations etc. The street vendors would potentially be in Cloudcroft from may to September or October during the time permanent businesses make the money needed to get them the winter months when it's slow up. Competition is not always a bad thing but street fair competition without a plan and oversight could devalue the storefronts of established businesses that have spent years building their brand, image and reputation.

Cloudcroft could end up looking like a flea market during the summer and permanent businesses going out of business due to the overhead and regulatory constraints they operate under verses a short term street vendor.

The village has allowed a person to sell lemonade that works over at OCEC (Otero County Electric Coop) as a construction and engineering assistant by the name of Kathy Powell. A lot of businesses believe it's favoritism. Is it? The village needs to answer with regulations and a plan.

A Merchant told asking not to be named for fear of retaliation stated to the AlamogordoTownNews.com, “it is different up here in our mountain town because a lot of people come here in the summer time, from Texas and elsewhere and street vendors can under-sale, underprice and don’t have the overhead every shop up here has because they don't have the regulations nor building and rental expense and upkeep. Street vendors don't draw people to Cloudcroft the weather does.”

Will there be an onslaught of street vendors applying to land in the Cloudcroft city center? Time will tell but when politicians make random policies and don’t consider the bigger picture to established businesses nor seek their input then trouble is sure to brew. Stay tuned this is an evolving story…