FRANKLIN
Downtown Franklin business owners, for the most part, reported having an excellent holiday season in terms of sales this year.

“We had wonderful local support, shopping local was great,” said Debbie Crowder, owner of The Cat’s Meow on Main Street. “Even today [Tuesday], we had a lot of shoppers in here, some of them are using their gift certificates, checking things on sale, so we’ve had a good turnout today.

“The community has been wonderful for the small businesses. We had people here as soon as I opened the doors this morning. Some were doing Christmas shopping, believe it or not, for next year.”

The Cat’s Meow was one of only a few downtown locations to open on Tuesday. Most others reopened for business beginning on Wednesday.

“We had a great season, up about 15 points over last year, depending on what comes back,” said Billy Smith, owner of Smith Jewelers on Second Avenue. “Sometimes we have returns, but up through Christmas it was up about 15 points. Lots of people shopped local and we really appreciated it.”

Smith attributed the boost to his business over last year to the success that local farmers have enjoyed this year with their crops.

“As we all know here, agriculture trickles down to everybody else,” he said.