You know what they say about small towns..they need our business. They cannot survive without our business. We live in a touristy area..many of the restaurants close down for the winter. We have lots of tourist shops you know the kind..candy shops, book stores and shops with all that crap from China..some are closed for the winter and some try to keep their business afloat all year round.
Now our small town did the unthinkable to it’s downtown businesses last summer.. construction..what a mess. Two years ago they closed main street off because of construction to the main highway..so for the last three years they have had only one year of decent business.
Every business was assessed for the sewer and water work that was done.
Next summer they will be doing all the side streets.
In all of these photos only the first one shows construction workers actually working. The photos were taken on various days, at various times when we just happened to be driving by on our way to the grocery store. The construction company in charge of this project was slower than molasses in the wintertime. They could have put up lights and worked 24 hours a day on this project. The City Fathers and Mothers should have insisted upon it.
Main Street opened again in late November..the small cafe that we used to frequent raised their prices..the Hallmark Store where I used to shop has been sold and a women’s clothing store will take it’s place. Just what we need a store where you cannot buy anything under 50 dollars.
I don’t know if you noticed or not, but the Movie Theatre did a face lift of the outside of their building during the construction..then they closed for major renovations, what used to be one huge theatre is now three small ones. Their 3D theatre is not open yet..but the others are..on Tuesdays you can go to the movies for 4.50 each..on Mondays it costs you 6.50 but you get free popcorn. Some things are still a bargain on Main Street. The last time were were at the movies we took the grandboys to see “Kung Fu Panda”..I think that was back in 2008:)
It looks like your downtown has board sidewalks? Does it? Jackson Hole years and years ago used to claim their fame was their board sidewalks but those were ripped out replaced during 'renovations'. Jackson lost some of it's charm when the board sidewalks came out. It's hard for small businesses to make it so no wonder some of them did not survive the downtown updates.
ReplyDeleteWow, Connie, it looks like the set of an old Western! Just the place for a coupla guys to have a shootout. Of course that will all stop when they allow regular people and (gasp!) cars to use Main Street. Very sad about the small businesses going under. Boo! Hiss!
ReplyDeleteMeredith, They had temporary board sidewalks during the construction:)
ReplyDeleteHopefully people were still shopping at the stores along the main street so no stores had to close their doors.
ReplyDeleteSounds about like what they did here too. Problem was after everything was finished and all the stores were finally open again shopping activity didn't return at the same level. Most people found other places to shop during the construction and stayed there. Sometimes progress isn't so great.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they had to close the whole road, and didn't just close one side at a time.
ReplyDeleteSad that no one seemed to be overseeing the work.
I hope enough businesses will remain to actually pay for the work.
My hubby and I saw Kung Fu Panda. We loved it. :)
It is a shame on how the local businesses suffer!
ReplyDeleteIts a sad thing about the small businesses. Our litle village here is trying to restore the main street shops and get it all back up again. We have a lot of local craft and art tallent in our area and I would love to be able to open up a gallery so they can show their talent and sell it. Have a great day !
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing all of the pics - I wasn't in town very often during this time so didn't get to see much - but the few times I was oh what a mess... Nice warm day today - lots of melting.... :)
ReplyDeleteA small town near us did the same thing...they did such major construction on one street that they had it so closed off that TWO businesses went UNDER never to open again. If I were those businesses I would want to sue somebody. They were told there would be access to their businesses, but their version of access was to go around a 6 block area with several turns to reach them and then to do the same to return to the main road. I felt so bad for them.
ReplyDeleteYour town looks like a gunfight could break out at any minute. It would be nice if those planning construction would take into consideration how having all the roads closed will affect the downtown businesses. A great road isn't all that great if the businesses go under.
ReplyDeleteIt really is tough for small businesses when city planners mess up like this!
ReplyDeleteYour town looks quaint - and oh so quiet.
are all the snow gone? Soon your streets will have lots of flowers?
ReplyDeleteHow to kill a small town. I'm sure it's going to take the downtown a long time to recover. Like someone said, why not do one side of the street at a time, and if they have to do something that involves the whole street, do it at night. Got to keep at least one side accessible to traffic. Something similar happened in Vancouver, and it killed some businesses.
ReplyDeleteThe movies certainly sound like a deal though! I think you need to go and see one more often than once every three years:) Not that I'm much different, but I did go and see The King's Speech this year:)
makes me sad -- to see main street get kick when they are already down.
ReplyDelete(ps. I'm not visiting the theater much, either.)