Shops struggle on Main Street

Businesses along a section of Main Street in Dunedin face obstacles - mainly, a lack of customers.

By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 26, 2002

DUNEDIN -- About a year ago, Clayton Jobe joked about changing the name of his Calibur Antiques to Ex-Calibur if business didn't improve along that portion of Main Street.

It didn't.

Jobe, who opened his store just two years ago, closed the shop, 545 Main St., because of a lack of business on that end of downtown Dunedin.

"I didn't want to do it, but I had to," said Jobe, who made $56 in June compared with the $2,000 he made at the same time last year. "People like coming to downtown, but they don't want to make that extra block walk; and I didn't know any better when I got there."

Merchants like Jobe whose shops are along the end of downtown's Main Street to the east of Douglas Avenue say the lack of pedestrian traffic makes it difficult for small businesses to survive.

"There definitely is not enough traffic down here compared with the west side," said Kelly Slawinski, who has owned Kookie Krums bakery, 513 Main St., for eight years. "If I had to wait for people to come in here, I would have been out of business 71/2 years ago."

The problem:

City officials and merchants say that troubled portion of Main Street is blocks from the Pinellas Trail and is cut off from the downtown action by an underused park and the First Presbyterian Baptist Church, both on the corner of Douglas Avenue.

The solution:

"All these are breaks in the streetscape that tend to have the pedestrian lose interest," said Bob Ironsmith, the city's economic development director. "What we're trying to do is have people continue to walk east."

To do this, Ironsmith hopes a string of new development projects along that area of Main Street, including the proposed revitalization of Pioneer Park, will fuel interest in that end of downtown and close the gap between Main Street's two ends.

"We're looking to see how we can enhance the sidewalk there, as well as working on designs for Pioneer Park," Ironsmith said. "We also see some underutilized properties that are going to be turned around there."

The plan for the park includes meandering brick sidewalks, landscaping and a wrought iron shelter adorned with the city's name.

Groundbreaking for the rehabilitated park on the northeast corner Douglas Avenue and Main Street is expected to be in the spring of 2003, though the City Commission has yet to approve $250,000 for the project.

In addition to improvements to Pioneer Park, Dunedin's Downtown Merchants Association and the Community Redevelopment Agency plan to erect directional kiosks around the downtown area.

"When people walk that way (east) and see the church, they sort of stop and say 'There's nothing else down there,' " said Gregory Brady, owner of Gregory's Salon and Downtown Merchants board member. "I think it's going to be something that will tie the area together and will work out really well."

Brady said there could be as many as four signs situated along Main Street, next to the Pinellas Trail, Pioneer Park and Chamber of Commerce building on the corner of Broadway.

Pastels Italian restaurant is moving farther east, from 461 to 487 Main St. The restaurant also will have a new name: Olivia's -- named after the owner's three-year-old daughter.

"It's such a prime spot that isn't being utilized," said owner Brandee Cate, who expects to open by the end of October. "We're hoping it will draw people down that way to help other businesses."

But it's not all dark storefronts and vacancy signs on that end of Main Street.

Merchants such as Sonny Thornton, who doesn't rely on pedestrian traffic, prosper.

"I feel blessed," said Thornton, owner of Community Insurance Consultants, 533 Main St. "My business is different because it's built on professional relationships. Our business is not really dependent on walk-in traffic."

For Mary McGuire, it's the $8 haircuts she offers.

"The only reason why I do all right is because of my reputation," said McGuire, who's owned McGuire's Barber Shop, 553 Main St., on the corner of Louden Avenue for 15 years. "For a new business to make it, I don't know how they would do it."

Jobe, meanwhile, said owning his antique shop was a learning experience.

"What I did in the past two years, I do not regret," he said. "But I think I would have done it closer to downtown."

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