SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Maintaining a litter-free, pleasant store front is just good business, according to Book Cellar owner Judith Drinnan, who said a little care and attention pays off.

"I care about my customers, I want them to come into somewhere warm and inviting and I think that should be a philosophy of every business. You wouldn't invite them into your home and not make an effort to make things look nice," she said.

Drinnan, who has been a resident of Yellowknife for more than 30 years, moved her book store to its current 49 Street location two years ago and immediately set to work beautifying the exterior.

"It was a rather sad little location. The corner was very sad and neglected. We moved in the winter so we couldn't do much about cheering up the place at that point, when spring came – I can't bare to see a flower bed out there with nothing growing in it," she said.

"There were a couple of very sad trees and a whole bunch of garbage in the soil, so we just cleaned it up, bought some plants and we've kept it clean ever since."

With additional support from the building's landlord, Drinnan keeps a daily watch on the store front to make sure it is an inviting location.

"We like to have the doors open in the summer because that's very inviting for customers, but on a windy day it tends to bring quite a bit of garbage onto the porch, so we work on that pretty much on a daily basis," she said.

Litter has always been present in Yellowknife, but she hasn't seen the issue get any more severe over the years.

"I don't see the garbage problem as getting any worse, except there are more people living here so obviously there's more garbage in that respect," Drinnan said.

"We still get the cigarette butts, so I bury them every morning."

Drinnan believes a little effort to clean up encourages people to respect the area.

"It seems to make a difference, when you take care of something other people take care of it," she said.

Despite this, the flowers in the store front have suffered from attacks on numerous occasions.

"Just recently we've had people pulling the plants out. So they pull them out and I put them back again."

However the vandalism has not deterred her.

"I don't give up. A long time ago people said 'don't do it because people will just wreck it anyway.' But that's not my approach to life. You've got to make a bit of a difference," she said.