Merchants look for green amid orange & black.
By: David Campbell
Downtown merchants seeking to draw in visitors from Reunions Weekend currently under way at Princeton University are showing off their black and orange.
But will their efforts bring in the green?
Clothing retailer Landau’s on Nassau Street has mounted a photographic exhibit of about 150 images by professional sports photographer Dick Druckman, a retired senior executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb who has been taking pictures for more than two decades, and now does so full time.
Mr. Druckman, who lives in West Windsor, has sold his work to such publications and media outlets as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, the Associated Press and Reuters. The professional photos on display in the store are all of Princeton University athletics, retailer Robert Landau said.
"He’s a real, full-fledged, international sports photographer," said Mr. Landau. He said the exhibit of Mr. Druckman’s work a limited exhibit was undertaken last year on Reunions Weekend is meant, in part, to pique the interest of Reunions goers and draw them into his store to have a look. This in turn, he hopes, will translate into weekend sales, he said.
"As a clothing store, we’re competing for their time, obviously," Mr. Landau said. "This is our effort to get them to break what they’re doing for a half hour or so to view these pictures, and ultimately this translates into business for us."
He added: "And we just think the pictures are extraordinary."
Reunions Weekend at Princeton, which kicked off Thursday and runs through Sunday and is expected to draw about 20,000 university alumni and their families, is not what it used to be 20 or 30 years ago.
As Mr. Landau explained, these days, family is involved in alumni events as never before, and visitors’ time is much more tightly scheduled. The challenge for downtown merchants in Princeton is finding ways to entice people to cross Nassau Street from campus to visit and spend their money in local stores.
"In 1975, if you came back here for your reunion, your wife basically had nothing to do, and the women basically shopped," Mr. Landau said. "It used to be 10,000 people came into town and 5,000 had nothing to do. Now, they’re all scheduled to the hilt. People don’t need to leave the campus. They don’t have free time to shop, even though there are more of them."
Some Princeton merchants said Reunions translates into a busy weekend and brisk sales for them. Others have made sure to offer merchandise with Princeton University and Reunions-related themes to appeal to potential buyers.
Jessica Durrie, owner of Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street, said sales go up substantially during Reunions Weekend.
"It’s probably one of our busiest weekends of the year," she said. "The combination of Princeton Reunions, the big P-rade on Saturday, then with Memorial Day and then graduation on Tuesday it’s a whopper weekend for us. It always has been, and it’s a lot of fun."
David Newton, vice president of Palmer Square Management, agreed.
"Reunions and graduation have a very big impact on both the Nassau Inn and Palmer Square," he said. "It provides a lot of the foundation to our annual sales. It’s like having another Thanksgiving or Christmas season and is one of the reasons Palmer Square does so well."
Kathleen Gittleman of Pins and Needles on Chambers Street said this is always a busy weekend for her shop. Among the Princeton-themed offerings in her storefront window are needlepoint canvases illustrated with tigers and tiger prints, Princeton letters and the university crest. She said one of her vendors secured a license with Princeton to do a university product line.
Jill Carpe, owner of Shop the World at Salty Dog on Spring Street, said she sells sarongs that she had specially hand-painted in Bali with Princeton’s orange and black colors, and hand-woven wall hangings from Thailand with the school’s name woven into them. She said Reunions for her means increased business.
Herb Tuchman, owner of PJ’s Pancake House on Nassau Street, said Reunions Weekend is one of his two busiest weekends of the year, the other being Labor Day. He said PJ’s and Hoagie Haven up the street have been ranked the two most popular places to visit among alumni returning to Princeton.
Costa Maltabes, who owns Hoagie Haven with his brother, Michael, said Reunions Weekend promises to be a busy one for his place. "They come back to get the hoagies they got back when they were going to school here," he said.
Torben Huge-Jensen, owner of Bowhe and Peare on Hulfish Street, said his store has tiger-oriented products on display to appeal to returning alumni and their families. He said that if the weather is good, people might find time to venture across Nassau Street and do some shopping downtown, but not necessarily so if it rains.
Like Mr. Landau, he said Reunions Weekend is so intensely scheduled these days and after events, many visitors climb aboard buses that take them straight back to their hotels on Route 1 that time for shopping is curtailed. But Mr. Huge-Jensen said that business would likely be brisk before the weekend itself when alumni schedules are busiest.
Rich Carnevale, co-owner of The Annex restaurant on Nassau Street, said the dynamics of Reunions have changed radically in the last 10 years and not for the better.
"When I first started, Reunions Weekend was one of the busiest weekends of the year, because they were left to fend for themselves," he said, noting that The Annex has been around since 1949, and he’s been running the place since 1986. "But now, all they need is on campus food, entertainment, spirits, wines, beer. They have no need to venture off unless they want to."
The Annex still draws traditional "die-hards" visiting the remaining haunts in Princeton from their school days, he said, but the bar is no longer packed with people in Reunions garb the way it once was.
But if it rains over the weekend, there might be a silver lining for the bottom line, he indicated.
"If the fields are muddy, people will seek shelter indoors, and they’ll venture across the street and hang out while awaiting their next event," Mr. Carnevale said.
He added: "My father told us this was a bad-weather business, and now I know why."

