But only on the outskirts. Downtown has stayed the same. Jerry Garrison, owner of the Sumner Animal Grub Feed Store just outside of the downtown area, says he has seen a lot of changes in the 25 years his business has been open. But the only changes in the retail area have been in the kinds of businesses that are there, he says. Now the focus has shifted to serving tourists.
Residents have to go to outlying areas for the basics.
There are a lot of antique and gift shops. It has gone from serving the public to trapping the public, trying to catch their eye. Mayor Skinner, who has lived in Sumner since 1943, has noticed that change too. But those things have been taken over by the supermarkets, so there is a different kind of store on Main Street now. We have a large number of antique store and gift shops.