As Cooperstown braces for the annual onslaught of visitors for the Hall of Fame induction, local merchants have mixed responses to the way the summer season has shaped up so far. Some say it's equal to past years in volume, others say it's slightly less.

Executive director of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, Polly Renckens, said that The Farmers' Museum and NYSHA have had great years. Renckens said that around 100,00 people visit the museums annually.

Renckens said two factors have helped to alleviate the parking problem in town.

"The blue trolley lot on the south end of town has been greatly improved and looks appreciably better," said Renckens. "Before, people were pulling in and pulling right back out. But now that problem has been remedied. She said that a recent story in The New York Times was a disappointment. It didn't do Cooperstown any service at all, she said, by reporting that rooms go for two hundred dollars a night, on average.

"The average is closer to one hundred," Renckens said. "And there are certainly rooms available now. The influx of Bed and Breakfasts has created more competition, and a lot of the Dreams Park people are finding private homes to rent for the week."

The Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce provides a Room Availability Service on their website, www.cooperstownchamber.org.

Ellen Weir, owner of Homescapes on Main Street, said, "This is a very difficult time for retail. The last few years have been. We've lost a lot of the daytrippers and the people who come in the spring and the fall because of the crowds in the street. A few people who do break through the lines are disappointed in the lack of non-baseball related stores."

Weir said that it won't be financially feasible for a lot of the merchants to stay in business on Main Street and that a move to Fly Creek or Middlefield, where the communities embrace entrepreneurs, might be the next step for a lot of Cooperstown merchants. She said that most of the people who own businesses in Cooperstown don't live in town, which means that they can't vote for mayor or trustees. Weir said this needs to change.

"Sharon Springs is a great example of what can happen when artists and entrepreneurs come together and create a lively, unique community," Weir said. "It's important to enhance the uniqueness of local businesses instead of making it a Stepford town. What we need to look at is the economy of Main Street because it affects everybody. If we're looking for a retirement slash baseball town, we could be headed in the right direction."

Neil Weiller, owner of Muskrat Hill, said he's noticed more of a mix of people coming back to Cooperstown.

"It's less baseball intensive," Weiller said.

Weiller said he laments the loss of other non-baseball stores in town. This is Weiller's eleventh year in business and he said he's seen a steep decline in non-baseball shops from fifteen to five. He's heard a "lot of groans," from brides who later realize that they've registered with shops out of town that have more expensive merchandise while he carries much of the same.

He said there was an insulting comment made once by a local person who said he was "too lazy to shop in Albany."

"Well," Weiller said, "people drive from Albany to come shopping in Cooperstown."

Weiller started selling baseball related items to "pay the bills." Much of this merchandise is in the alley that leads to his shop and to Willis Monie, Main Street's used book shop.

Monie said that his business isn't primarily tourism related, but that he enjoys more business from visitors who frequent the opera than those who come to see the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Washington Post recently ran a story about Cooperstown, said Monie, and his bookshop was referred to as, "the most fantastic used book shop," the author ever saw. Monie said that the advent of the internet has closed the doors of many used book shops.

"We have to be somewhere," Monie said. "I'd just as soon be here. It works. It's still economically viable to be here."

Andrew Vilacky, owner of Our National Game, said that this year hasn't been as busy as others, especially on transition days between sessions at the Dreams Park.

"I take it as it comes," Vilacky said. "If it's busy, you order more. If not, you back off. You go with the flow. There's no science to it."

The Latest Obsession is a memorabilia shop on Main Street owned by Ken St. John, who said this season has been comparable to others.

Baseball merchant Ed Tripp, owner of Collector's World and a village trustee, agreed that business has stayed steady.

"We're in a kind of a unique position here, we think business is fine. We're within fifteen percent of last year's gross."

Tripp anticipates an induction weekend on par with last year's. Kirby Puckett is a popular player, he said, and Bill Mazeroski fans are close enough to make the trip from Pittsburgh.

"Even though Dave Winfield's going in as a San Diego Padre, he still played for New York," Tripp said. "People will come to see him."

The Dreams Park has "put a big punch" in the local baseball economy, Tripp said.

"They just got their expansion approved and that's good news for us," said Tripp. "Hopefully the Springfield baseball camps can get their stuff ironed out."