Downtown Businesses Open
By Robin Vinci | Editor at July 9, 2024 | 6:30 pm | Print
Despite streetscape construction at Central Park, businesses on Main Street are open.
Several business owners adjacent to the park have said many people do not realize their business is still open during construction. This has cost them thousands of dollars.
“My first concern was that we weren’t given enough time to make arrangements and tell our customers that we were going to have this situation where they would have difficulty bringing their things in and out. They started working without giving us that type of information,” said Orson Rothkopf of City Luggage and Imperial Trophy. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much business we lost in revenue. People had no idea whether we were open or closed because there was no signage to indicate whether we were here or not.”
Rothkopf said the workers did their best to accommodate business owners, but both were in the dark.
A new electronic sign was recently been put up downtown that lets people know businesses are open.
The Central Park Project is just the beginning of one phase of the streetscape master plan. It started at the corner of Main Street near Liberty Pizza and it is going down to TD Bank. There will be brick pavers similar to what is across the street at the police station on the sidewalks.
Central Park will extend further and will open up like a rectangle instead of a triangle as it is now. The traffic flow will be fixed for easier access and food trucks are expected at the park next Spring.
A portable ice rink will be available at the park and an artificial Christmas tree will be put up for the holiday season.
“We lost a lot of business,” said Cindy Chen of New China Restaurant. “It’s not much better (now that construction is not directly in front of her restaurant). They haven’t started coming back yet.”
“We have always been open and it hurt us 110 percent,” said Hamid Samie, pharmacy manager of Access Care Pharmacy. “People called us and said we were closed. I was here everyday. We never closed down, but people did not know. Even I couldn’t walk in for two or three days. There was no access. They were working outside and trucks were outside. I don’t how many customers I lost. My regulars came back, but I’m sure we lost some others. They said it would take one week and it took 3-4 weeks. It hurt.”
Samie said he hasn’t seen anything done that will help his business.
“They changed the sidewalks and that was fine,” said Samie. “To me, it was a waste of money.”
Several other business owners, who asked not be named, said the construction definitely impacted their business. A few added that although it was tough, it might be worth it as the project should help to draw more people downtown next year.
“Hopefully this work will not be in vain and we will have a nice new area that will be pleasant,” said Rothkopf “Maybe it will help the community appreciate what we have.”
The Central Park part of the project is expected to be completed in late fall of this year. But, businesses owners say they want to be sure customers stop by during the construction as they will remain open for business.
