Downtown merchants crusade to keep businesses alive

Owners anxious about construction impact

MOSES LAKE — One of the papers passed around during a meeting of some of the downtown business owners Thursday morning included the heading, "How to Survive Renovation Projects."

That's something on the minds of many merchants in these final days before Ellensburg-based contractor MRM Construction begins work in Moses Lake on Monday, and traffic signals at the intersection of Third Avenue and Division Street come down Aug. 8.

Many of them say they're ready for the construction period to be over, before it even begins.

That's because they expect the construction period to have some sort of impact upon their businesses. How much of one remains the question.

"We don't know," said Bob Arnold, owner of Columbia Basin Quiltworks and Bernina with wife Connie. "I think the answer's yes, but we don't have anything to gauge it on. It's going to be more difficult to get to all the stores because of the street being closed, and it depends on how patient the people are that are trying to get there."

"I think I would be silly not (to expect) some impact," said Sue's Shadow Box owner Sue Torrence. "But it's been real positive that they're going to have something in front of our doors by noon; I think that is a plus. We were really worried about having to use our back doors all the time, and since they put that in, I feel so much better."

Many of Torrence's customers have assured her they will continue to frequent her business, she added.

"I think it will be hard, but I think with all of us banding together as a group, and maybe we'll get those people that have never come downtown to see what we have going on," she said. While construction is scary, she added, she thinks it will be fine, as the city and contractors work with the businesses more and more. But she plans to make the most of it.

"It's going to be dusty; probably have to have a dusty sale," she said with a laugh. "We'll figure out something."

Kelley McDowall, owner of Well-Read Books, noted she's at the tail end of the construction area, so she doesn't expect as much of an impact as some of the other businesses, although her customers do tend to like to drive right up to her door.

"That will probably impact me as far as my customers go, but the sidewalk thing, I'm going to be a little farther down, I think, than where the real problem is going to be," she said.

McDowall thinks this is a bad time of year for the construction, when businesses rely a lot on foot traffic and visitors from out of town walking the area. There's more of that than people think, she said.

"I kind of wish they would have done it at a different time of year, when we wouldn't be so impacted by restricting our foot traffic," she said, adding with a chuckle, "That much kind of torqued me off, but as far as what it's probably going to ultimately look like in the end, I think it's probably going to make the downtown area look a lot nicer."

McDowall also wondered where the Third Avenue traffic will go, since it tends to pick up much of the excess traffic from Broadway Avenue one block over. When she leaves her own business in the evenings, she tends to stick to the side streets, she noted.

"I'm thinking that Broadway is going to become even worse," she said. "I'm concerned about that."

McDowall said she is less impacted than other specialty shops because her customer base comes to see her.

"We have a hard enough time getting people that live in this area to come downtown in the first place," she said. "Now we've made it a little more difficult for them … I'm just hoping people will still remember that we are down here, that we are accessible, because a lot of the businesses are still going to be accessible."

That's something all the businesses are hoping area residents keep in mind as they navigate around the construction.

More than 19 of the businesses downtown are teaming up for an ongoing "Hard Hat Zone" promotion during the construction period. The Thursday morning meeting was between some of the participating businesses, talking about retaining the business.

Cobblestone Corner owner Gail Hellewell is one of the leaders of that charge, and noted it's important to keep the businesses alive.

"That's what it's all about, is to get people downtown so we can pay our bills every month," she said. "The goal of the promotion is to get people to shop downtown during construction."

"We've come together as a group to get people to realize there is a lot to offer downtown," Gail's husband Vern, president of the Moses Lake Business Association, added.

While many of the owners expressed their desire to see the completion of the project sooner rather than later, and also expressed excitement to see the completed project, some also rang in that there needs to be more destinations to draw in more customers.

"We're pleased that they're doing it," Arnold said of the construction. "We think it's going to be a real addition, a real asset for downtown businesses when it's complete. One of the things that we like about the project out here is that it's going to slow the traffic down, make it more pedestrian friendly. We have people on a regular basis taking their life in their own hands going across the street out here even if they do have the light."

Computer Place owner Clint Bridges thinks the construction will reduce the amount of business he gets, and noted the nature of his business doesn't really allow for a way to counteract that impact. His business is listed as participating in the promotion.

"I don't believe that renovated sidewalks, readjusted streets and rebuilt parks are as important, or would make as great an impact as destination businesses," he said.

Downtown Loan Company owner Gary Goodwin said his business requires people to come to the site to pick their items up.

"What it's going to do is cut down on my sales and also pawns because if they can't get here, but I don't know what to do," he said of his options, other than weather the construction period out.

"I don't think it's really going to improve downtown business traffic," Goodwin continued. "On the other hand, I'm not opposed to it, really. The goal that they have, I guess, is to get more people to be down here. I think that they overlooked the obvious, to me, is that the businesses aren't here, to get the people here. It's not that it's unattractive."

MLBA executive director Sally Goodwin said recruitment of additional businesses is an association program.

Torrence noted that with the reconstruction going on and some remodeling, now would be the perfect time for anybody interested in opening a new business downtown.

"This would be the time that they could remodel their store, and there's a few that are vacant," she said. "It'd be a great time to get in there, remodel and get ready for what's coming up. If they don't do it, they're going to miss out."