Some Branson merchants adjust to attract changing customer base

BRANSON, Mo. -- Steve Hartley travels extensively to find new and better merchandise for his changing customer base at Dick's Oldtime 5 & 10 in downtown Branson.

Started in 1961 by Hartley's father, Dick's is an eclectic cross between an old-fashioned five-and-dime store and a trendy emporium. Thousands of cheap items are jammed onto wooden shelves with high-quality collectibles and gift items.

"We're continually upgrading our store and our merchandise," Hartley says.

Hartley, like many merchants here, is adapting his stock to appeal to a clientele different from the empty-nesters and retirees that Branson traditionally has attracted. They expect the arrival of tourists from more distant parts of the country will result in a younger, trendier and more affluent customer.

The 2007 opening of a $450 million, city-owned Hilton Hotels and Convention Center Complex and of Branson Landing, a trendy open-air mall, already have had a subtle effect, the merchants say.

The average age of adult visitors to Branson is 57, and their household income is less than $60,000, research by the area tourism office shows. But Ross Summers, CEO of Branson's chamber of commerce, says that doesn't include the thousands of children and teenagers who visit Branson with their families each day in the summer. And he discounts the expectations that the airport will push the tourism demographic significantly higher. The biggest change, he says, will come from extending Branson's reach.

"I doubt our visitors' psychographic profile will change very much," he says, using a term that refers to visitors' social and self-perceived demographics, and the type of attractions they prefer. "But I do expect our visitors' geographic profile to change as the airport opens up big portions of the country to us."

Branson Mayor Raeanne Presley, a member of one of Branson's pioneering entertainment families, also dismisses concerns that the coming changes threaten the city's unabashedly unsophisticated heritage or its Midwestern values centered on "family, God and country."