As the youngest of six children, there was rarely extra money in our house for clothes shopping when I was little. But, I remember the joy of getting to choose a few special things for school at the end of summer each year. I hope you’ll be happy to hear that downtown Biddeford has quite a few options for unique and great-priced clothing – whether your kids need something for school, you’re enjoying the last days at the beach, or you want something special for work or an event.

Lacava on Water Street has increased their clothing offerings lately, expanding on their selection of beautiful scarves and purses to include funky shoes, men’s shirts and vintage party dresses. There is plenty of parking on Water Street, and a stop by Lacava provides a chance to check out all the progress on the city’s RiverWalk.

You may have noticed that Downtown Dollar has more sweatshirts and hats in stock this summer. Stop in and tell Dan about other clothes you’d like to see in this bright, clean retail store downtown. As a local business owner, Dan is always interested in responding to people’s requests.

The downtown is now pleased to welcome “Suger,” a women’s clothing store and gift shop at 25 Alfred St. that is slated to open by the end of this month. Roxi Suger has migrated to Biddeford from Brooklyn with her family, bringing her retail design studio with her. You’ll find angelrox, her eco collection of versatile, inspiring and stylish signature designs, along with special gifts in this beautiful showroom.

Brand new this week is Little Peeps, a clothing store for the whole family at 288 Main St. Little Peeps has maternity clothes, as well as clothes and shoes for infants, children, men and women. They have both new and used items, and they have created a lovely, open space in this new store.

When the Heart of Biddeford and the city collaborated to create a Downtown Master Plan with input from the whole community, there was a call for more retail businesses in the downtown. A transformation is occurring where our strong restaurant and arts and entertainment niches are now joined by more retail options.

Heart of Biddeford is getting details ready to host a “Main Street Challenge – Encore” to follow up the exciting progress made during the first challenge in 2012. This type of business competition allows the city to purposefully attract businesses that enhance our mix of options in the downtown. The first round resulted in three thriving businesses (Tote Road, Elements: Coffee Books Beer, and Dahlia’s Delights). In addition, the “buzz” that was generated helped attract more businesses like Cobblestones, the Saco River Yarn Store, Suger and Little Peeps.

There is a good number of people frequenting all the restaurant and arts and entertainment offerings in the downtown, while checking out the longtime and new retail options (stores like Youland’s Jewelers, Reilly’s Bakery and New Morning Natural Foods have 200 years longevity among them. True, many still long for the days when police were needed to control all the walking traffic streaming into the large department stores. Whether or not we can create that kind of spectacle again remains to be seen.

But, the growing number of small businesses in Biddeford that are locally owned, that turn around and put their money back into the community, are great signs of progress in this modern economy. And, I’m looking forward to finding school clothes for my daughter in downtown Biddeford this month.

Delilah Poupore is the director of Heart of Biddeford. Her column appears monthly.

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