State of the Downtown: According to the Dispatch

Reporter Jane Hawes, a Delaware resident, recently had an interesting article on downtown Delaware in the Columbus Dispatch.

The article details how downtown Delaware has changed in the past year, going from nearly full occupancy to a rush of vacancies.

“A year ago, there was essentially 100 percent occupancy downtown, and now there’s 12 vacancies,” said Dan Negley, who operates Breakaway Cycling in the former Delaware livery at 17 W. William St. “But this is probably the third time it’s happened since I opened in ’91. It’ll come around eventually.”

Dan is such a voice of reason in this discussion and he’s right that it will rebound.

However, what led to this situation? The natural evolution of a downtown and a blend of other outlines. We recently had a question about a rash of houses for sale on a particular street, and this is a similar situation.

Is there an underlying reason for the changes in downtown occupancy from last year to this year? Retirement and relocation seem to be the catch-word of the day. We can’t really do much about the retirements, as it is a natural evolution in small shops. One of the things that makes Delaware great is it is non-chain anchored downtown businesses. However, this is also leads to a life cycle of the business. I was talking to Wynter Bookman, owner of Trotter Coffee Company about this situation the other day.

“I have realized that my regular customers want to see me,” she said. “It is part of what owning a small business is all about.”

And she’s right. Her employees are great, but Wynter is the life-blood of that coffee shop. Same can be said for Pat’s Record Shop and Pilsner’s 5-and-10. Without that “hometown” feel it is just another shop in downtown.

Another situation facing downtown is several stores have chosen to move out of downtown. The Quilt Shoppe is now located on U.S. 36 west of Ostrander about five miles west of Delaware. Home Haven will move to the west side in August to the site former Tea Room on Central Avenue. There continues to be rumors that El Alcapulco will reopen a restaurant in Delaware — however not downtown.

As downtown evolved this could have been expected as the popularity pushes the rents up and some business out of the area. However another issue — too everyone except the city fathers — is the parking. But if you are willing to park and walk there are a lot of great opportunities in downtown Delaware.

The state of downtown is evolving, but it is still a great place to enjoy a few hours.

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