Originally scheduled to open Labor Day, a flea market is still closed, and tenants are losing money with each passing day.
By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published October 24, 2004
SPRING HILL - Ghouls, skulls and gargoyle decorations lay in boxes stacked in Nancy Sauer's Spring Hill garage, waiting to be hung and to haunt homes in Halloween style.
But Sauer's $7,000 worth of gothic, seasonal decorations may not get sold in Hernando County until well after Halloween.
Sauer started her new small business, Gothic Hallow, in part because she knew she would have a regular local market to sell her goods: the old Wal-Mart on Commercial Way that is being converted into the Small Business Outlet.
The problem is the Small Business Outlet was supposed to open seven weeks ago.
Owned by VA Development of Spring Hill, the flea market-type operation, which promised to feature 300 small retailers, was scheduled to open Labor Day, and then Oct. 1. Now it doesn't plan to open until Nov. 18.
Dozens of small business owners are frustrated, and some, including Sauer, are hurting financially because of the delay in opening the market.
"I'm tied up in Halloween stock, and they're taking my bread and butter here," said Sauer, 45, who has set up booths for her Halloween stock at another indoor flea market in Holiday.
Small Business Outlet general manager Frank Territo says the delay is not his fault. Territo owns the 80,000-square-foot site, and says he's doing the best he can. He blames delays on the hurricanes, which prevented him from getting remodeling materials, and he also points a finger at the county building department.
"The county's been cooperating the best they can, but the workload, because of the hurricanes, has been excessive," Territo said.
But county development director Grant Tolbert denies that county officials have held up Territo's project. He admits the department is slammed with other projects, but said the county has issued all of the necessary permits for the market. He says any delays are Territo's fault.
In fact, Tolbert also said, VA Development had started working on tearing out walls before the company received its permits on Aug. 25. That was less than two weeks before VA Development was supposed to have its first grand opening. VA Development had applied for the permit in June.
Tolbert said he decided not to issue citations to the company.
Territo would not confirm or deny whether such work began before it was legally supposed to.
"I'm not going to get into an arguement with the county," Territo said. "We spent a lot of money on putting a new roof in and resurfacing the parking lot and putting in a security system. I just want to see this open for everybody's benefit."
County records show that VA Development has more work ahead of it. For example, the outlet center just got a permit Thursday to install a fire alarm system, which it applied for two weeks earlier.
Two businesses that are supposed to open inside the center are awaiting county permits, but both the barbershop and the Greek food restaurant applied for their permits only about two weeks ago.
The Small Business Outlet is in a plaza that is also home to an electronics store and some service businesses. But the plaza has been missing an anchor since Wal-Mart, the national discount giant, moved south in April 2003 and opened a Supercenter at 1485 Commercial Way. Since then, few shoppers have visited the plaza.
The Small Business Outlet has commitments for clothing retailers, jewelry stores, a furniture company and a vacuum service company, all offering new merchandise. Clustered in one area will be service businesses, including real estate agents, mortgage brokers, cabinet remakers and vacuum repairs.
But the delay has caused many of the vendors to face a cash crunch because they had expected to move into the outlet nearly two months ago.
For example, Robert Yoerg, the owner of Save-On Sales and Service, a 6-month-old company that repairs and sells vacuums and sewing machines, just lost an employee whom Yoerg had hired to help out once he got into the Small Business Outlet. He figured the market would help boost his sales and he could afford the help.
When the outlet didn't open on time, he continued to pay his one employee full-time wages, in hopes that the outlet would open soon and boost his sales. However, he recently had to cut the woman's hours because of the lack of work, and she promptly found a different job.
"Basically, I'm down to no employees because I don't know when this market's going to open," Yoerg said.
Jennifer Liberto can be reached at 352 848-1434. Send e-mail to liberto@sptimes.com
