New Orleans merchants struggle to rebound

Uptown’s Dombourian Oriental Rugs, catering to a more-local clientele, had to close for five weeks following Katrina. Dombourian said although his building sustained wind damage, most of the wait was for electricity to be restored.

Dombourian said sales have been brisk, especially after his experts had to tell people “there was nothing we could do for their rugs after sitting in water for five or six weeks.”

Some customers who settled quickly with insurance companies were eager to refurbish, but many others have not. Some, he said, “are waiting to see if we have any major damaging storms like August and September.”

The Internet is helping at least some of the merchants.

Freelander called her store’s Internet site “very helpful,” but walk-in customers are still her mainstay. “We’re fortunate because Royal Street is an internationally known area for antiques,” she said.

But Harris said the sort of customer who frequents his store — featuring merchandise ranging in price from a couple of thousand dollars to $100,000 or more — likely is not going to make a decision simply based on an Internet view.

“For the most part, people want to see these items,” he said.

Rau said his company’s Internet site was not a major part of its business plan before the storm, but now is being used to get pictures and catalogues to customers. Rau has a professional photographer who shoots pictures of antiques for potential clients.

“We’re capable of doing business when people aren’t here,” he said.

Dombourian said a few businesses along the strip closed after the storm. Some, however, were thinking of doing so even before Katrina, and their buildings are now occupied, or soon will be occupied, by other specialty shops.

“We got a number of merchants who decided to put up some money to do some advertising and expose ourselves more widely,” Dombourian said. “It’s helping.”

Harris said the merchants, like most of the tourism industry, are trying to overcome the image that the entire city was destroyed.

“We’re all hoping people will realize the Central Business District, the French Quarter and the city are basically fine,” he said. “The outlying areas will take years to rebuild, but the business area of the city is basically fine.

Bohn, a New Orleans native, isn’t worried about the future.

“Hell, you can’t let New Orleans die,” he said. “The food’s too good.”

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