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took ow the business? and in 1997 the Emporium moved from the school' house in Sperryviile to its current location as the last retail storefront before the park.
The Emporium, as its name suggests. sells a variety of items: Furniture, pots and planters, garden statues ofbears. collector's items, moccasins, candy, fireworks, jam. souvenirs, all the stuff tourists seemed to like.
But there have been fewer and fewer of them over the past decade.
Statistics on visitors to the park are more general' ly reliable since 1996. according to Karen Beck' Hercog a Park Hanger and public affairs specialist at park headquarters in Luray. But estimating park visitors is not an exact science and metrics and measuring devices have changed over the years. Data for park visitors before 199®. said Beck' Herxog. is questionable.
However, there is no doubt that park traffic has declined significantly over the past decade, she said, and comparatively, the number of visitors per year has dropped by nearly 500.000 between 1996 and £007 (the latest year from which data is available).
By her estimates, that's a 26 percent drop in visitors.
26.6%