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Counterculture clash

Retro and bohemian shops on Central must swim against the downtown tide. Can they survive?

By SHARON L. BOND
Published January 29, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Owners of small businesses that will remain in the 600 block of Central Avenue question whether they will be able to survive several years of construction there.

The eastern half of the block will be cleared of small shops, and a 15-story condominium building with 108 units built there. The building will be called Residences at 601 Central.

In the western half of the block are more than half a dozen small businesses plus the State Theater, which will remain.

"I don't know if we will be able to make it," said Brent Bennett, owner of Retro World. He has two store spaces for his business, which sells furniture and accessories from the 1950s and 1960s and Danish Modern. He has been there for four years.

"They will have to block off the sidewalk. Are people going to continue walking downtown? Are they going to block off parking spaces?" Bennett asked.

David Russell owns Treasure Hunt, which offers second-hand goods. He has owned the business since April but said it has been open for about 20 years.

"We are like an old neighborhood store," he said. "The city doesn't seem to care about what we are doing. Everybody is all tied up in condos."

Since the late 1990s, St. Petersburg's downtown has been a condominium construction zone. Projects started on the water but have been moving west to places like the 600 block of Central Avenue.

Residences at 601 Central will be priced from the high $200,000s to the mid $600,000s. The project will get its first airing before city officials Wednesday.

David Goodwin, the city's economic development director, agrees that the remaining businesses will have a tough time during construction.

"We will do everything we can to ensure that existing businesses are impacted as little as possible," Goodwin said, but added, "things aren't going to be as they are."

Merchants say they already have lost business because of the number of empty storefronts in the eastern half of the block. Shoppers take a look at those and don't continue west.

"People come in and say, you are still open," said Susan Riggs, one of the owners of Star Booty, a bohemian-style clothing, jewelry and gift shop that includes a hair salon. She lived through street improvements when her store was at 11th Avenue and Central.

"That almost killed us. This probably will be the last nail in the coffin," Riggs said. Her partner in the business is Mimi Reilly.

Most shops in the 600 block of Central Avenue operate out of a single storefront. Some merchants have improved their spaces, and several describe their shops as the heart of downtown.

"People love this block," Bennett said. "They love to walk through the small shops."

During the season, Bennett said, about 1,000 customers come to his store per week.

"I want to stay," he said.

In another area of downtown, a business is about to emerge from nearly two years in a construction zone. Midtown Sundries on First Avenue S is part of the McNulty Lofts project. It has remained open while builders put five stories of condos on top of an existing garage.

"I've been told I will be out of the construction tunnel mode before the end of February," said owner Charles L. Kott. His experience won't do anything to reassure the businesses in the 600 block of Central Avenue.

Kott estimates that he lost 15 percent of his business, a large chunk of which was evening customers. They stopped coming after the construction sidewalk, or tunnel, as he called it, was put up in front of Midtown Sundries. Midtown opened in 1999.

"Construction scares people away. They find it difficult to see (into the store because of the tunnel). It was difficult to tell whether we were open, difficult to find where to park."

He credits his landlord, Echelon, with helping him get through the construction. Echelon is developing the lofts. When business began to fall off, Echelon reduced his rent, Kott said.

"They really supported me on every issue with the construction people," he said.

As of March 1, Midtown will offer specials to bring customers back. Dishes will be priced at what they were in the late 1990s, and one child can eat free for every adult in a party, Kott said.

[Last modified January 29, 2006, 01:27:17]