Once passenger-packed buses would bring literally hundreds of visitors to St. Jacobs in search of the perfect shopping experience. The little village smack dab in the middle of Mennonite country seems an odd place to become a veritable temple to capitalism but that is what it was in the not too distant past.
Dansk, Paderno, Corning, Nike and many other big name brands had outlet stores in St. Jacobs. Local artists, and even artists from outside the little town, opened shops in St. Jacobs to take advantage of the intense shopper traffic there to immerse themselves in a shop-till-you-drop experience.
Today, St. Jacobs is but a shadow of its former self. Dansk is no longer a stand alone company. It has closed most, if not all, its stores. Paderno still exists but it too has closed stores and now sells mainly at the stores run by the big retailers like Canadian Tire and Walmart. Corningware too has slashed its number of stores. The one in St. Jacobs is gone. The old outlet malls are either closed or mere shadows of their former selves.
Then came COVID-19 and the lock-downs. St. Jacobs was given a one-two punch from which it may never totally recover but it may be too early to count the town out. A visit to St. Jacobs early Sunday morning confirmed that many of the art stores, antique shops and fine craft outlets are still there and open for business.
The parking spots for the buses are empty now and may soon be painted over. Facing the reality that the buses filled with shoppers may never return may mark the official end to an era. But no matter, when COVID-19 is licked, it is quite possible that St. Jacobs will get its second wind and come back reincarnated in a form that may actually, in the end, benefit the residents of St. Jacobs more than all the big names did by bringing product in and moving cash out.
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