Vacant retail spaces and apartments don”t stay vacant for long in downtown Columbus, reported Main Street Columbus Director Amber Brislin.
Of the downtown area”s vacant retail spaces, a “tenant is in the works” for the area formerly occupied by Alford Drugs, she noted, declining to identify potential tenants, with construction on the building expected to be completed this week.
Additionally, an unidentified restaurant is moving into the space at 509 Main St., formerly occupied by a tapas restaurant, with an anticipated opening date of July 1, and offers are pending on spaces formerly occupied by Parker Furniture, on Fifth Street.
Also, before the end of summer, a new shoe store will open on Main Street next to Moonshadow.
“The advantage of having a business downtown is there is so much built-in advertising and promotions we do to target people to come downtown to shop,” she said. “That advertising you may not get in another location. Also, all of the beautification (efforts) and events we hold that bring people downtown (are advantages), whether it be the flowers and trash cans (placed downtown) or the promotions (for businesses). All that has added foot traffic to those businesses. And downtown is more of a unique, personable place to shop than some other places, in my opinion.”
Although retail spaces — including those formerly occupied by the Varsity Theater, Mississippi Coffeehouse and Coffee Plantation — remain empty, efforts are being made to attract tenants.
And Brislin, who has served at Main Street Columbus for three years, said the number of vacancies is not unusually high.
“I think it”s a normal pattern,” she explained. “Obviously, we”ve had more restaurants open downtown, and the majority of those restaurants have been thriving, have been doing well. A lot of the specialty shops and gift shops seem to be doing successfully. At the end of last year, some of the gift-store owners told me they had record sales. It may be more people shopping at home or being more loyal to local and family-owned businesses.”
“We don”t have a lot of empty retail spaces,” agreed Jan Miller of Mississippi Main Street Association. “It is just hard to compare downtown Columbus with the rest of the state, because we are so far ahead. We do it right. Some of these buildings that are empty are getting ready to be filled. We can”t talk about it yet, but we have two or three (businesses) coming in. I would say that we are one of the most viable downtowns in the state.
“We have a good mix of retail,” she continued. “It never hurts to have more retail, but we”re holding our own. And I would say that all downtowns are literally holding their own throughout the state. We”re seeing a few closures, but that”s because the economy has made people get on or get off. And they were probably already in trouble before that happened.”
Shopping locally is important to the health of a downtown district, she noted.
“What most towns are doing now is they”re really trying to get people to shop at home and shop local,” Miller said. “They”re concentrating on the retail they have now and keeping them happy and people are shopping with them.
“I think the Internet has had a lot to do with what”s going on, too,” she added. “Most of our stores are on Facebook. They”ve got pages and (send out) e-mails when new stuff comes in. I think when we look at the economy across the state, it”s not bad at all, to be quite honest. The retail trends are not looking as bad as they have. Columbus is holding its own and we look real good.”
With more than 140 apartments, owned by about 15 to 20 different owners, Main Street Columbus does not keep current records of apartment occupancies, but Brislin said vacancies are few and far between.
“Some of the feedback I”ve gotten from the apartment owners is they”re not having a problem with vacancies in apartments,” she said. “I have people walking in the (Main Street Columbus) office every day, looking for contact information on apartment vacancies. The majority of them are occupied.”
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