Ypsilanti's historic Depot Town has undergone many changes in the last few years, but despite those changes and a tough economy, many local retailers are having a good holiday season.

Depot Town Community Development Corp. Executive Director Erik Dotzauer said that Depot Town has experienced "quite a bit of turnover."

Dotzauer listed some of the changes Depot Town has seen in the last few years.

“Over the last year, we lost Quinn’s Essentials, Salt City Antiques moved downtown, and we lost Cheeky Monkey,” he said. “That’s one of the more negative things that has happened. We hate to lose established customers that bring repeat business. But, on the bright side, new exciting businesses came to Depot Town in that same time period. I hope they’ll bring new people to the area and complement the businesses already there.”

“I’d actually be kind of curious to see how the new mix of retailers and merchants in Depot Town would be affected by the holiday season.”

Linda French, owner of Sidetrack and Frenchies, said that business is up all around for the holiday season. Frenchie’s, the banquet hall and catering business associated with Sidetrack, has seen more holiday parties this year, she said.

“More parties, but people are spending less," she said. "They have smaller budgets to work with.”

She said Sidetrack restaurant is also still doing well. She said she kept anticipating the economic downturn would catch up with business, but so far trends have been positive. “It probably helps that we’re priced right,” French said. “We’re not $25 a plate. That’s probably why.”

Sidetrack’s Web site is also pulling in quite a bit of revenue this holiday season. Adding an online store to the Sidetrack Web site about a year ago, she said, was “one of the better things we’ve done.”

She said the Web store allows old customers who have moved out of state to keep in touch.

“Every day, we have packages to go out,” French said. “We’ve got people out of state sending gift cards to people who live in town.” In addition to gift cards, the online store also offers Sidetrack T-shirts and glassware.

One reason the restaurant and catering business are doing well is the influx of new merchants, she said.

“I think the new businesses in Depot Town have added new customers to the area,” she said.

Clover Computers is one of the new businesses in the mix. This is the second holiday season the computer retail and repair shop has been in business.

“We’re doing OK. We’re still here,” said Clover Computers co-owner Calvin Moore.

He said repair requests go down during the holidays, but purchases go up.

“Business definitely picks up around the holiday,” he said. “We always sell a lot of laptops, and we sell a few more around holidays.” He said sales of desktops and accessories also increase during this time of year.

Moore said he and his partner purposely picked Depot Town for their location, even though they could have gotten a space elsewhere in Ypsilanti for less. He said he liked the historic nature of Depot Town, and it has a small town feel that it wouldn’t have if he’d established the business on Michigan Avenue.

Incidental business from those visiting other Depot Town merchants is also a plus, he said.

“The foot traffic makes it good,” he said. “Being next to Sidetrack, we get a lot of their customers, from Aubree’s, too.”

Moore said he always tells potential customers on the phone that he’s located in Depot Town rather than saying he’s in Ypsilanti, because Depot Town has better associations for many area residents.

“It’s definitely worth the extra money for rent” to be associated with Depot Town, Moore said.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com.