We’ve been impressed by the willingness of merchants and store owners in downtown Wendell and downtown Zebulon to rekindle the notion of downtown as a destination.

Several merchants in Wendell have pitched in to create a new candy store that, if marketed well, stands to be a great addition to the downtown in that community, especially during the holidays. Other downtown supporters have boosted the Christkindel market in downtown Wendell and several vendors were on hand at that town’s Lighting of the Town Square last week.

And in Zebulon, behind the persistent encouragement of Ramona Davis and other members of the Downtown Beautification Committee, merchants held a successful downtown open house last Friday night.

Traffic was steady throughout the evening and visitors had a wonderful opportunity to get out of their cars and walk through downtown Zebulon.

The effort in Zebulon was successful and the Wendell projects have that potential as well because merchants are working together toward a common goal.

It can be hard to get so many people pulling in the same direction when each one of them is used to operating independently, but it’s clear to us that taking a group approach has plenty of advantages. Businesses that participated in Zebulon’s open house may not have seen their sales skyrocket during the event, but the residual effect of such an effort gives merchants a reason to hope that customers will return at some point to make that purchase.

Those connections will likely pay dividends down the road.

These efforts are timed to coincide with the holidays which, of course, are an important time of year for any retail merchant.

But if store owners find it to be worth the effort, it will be easier to collaborate on other projects in the future.

That gives us reason to hope that the best is yet to come for our downtowns.