River Market departures haven't created panic

Arkansas Business, Jan 27, 2003 by Mark Friedman

THE BACK-TO-BACK CLOSINGS of Take A Hike and Vesta's Unique Gifts and Home Furnishings in Little. Rock's River Market District haven't set off alarm bells with neighboring business owners.

Owners in the area said the closings are just part of the natural growth of the blocks along President Clinton Avenue in downtown Little Rock. But other retailers confirm that they have had a difficult time making money in an area that's being taken over by restaurants and entertainment venues.

Since Take A Hike and Vesta's have closed, two more restaurants have announced they will move into the River Market area within the next couple of months.

But restaurants aren't immune from closings either. In December, El Barrio, a Mexican restaurant in the River Market, closed, citing a lack of business.

Take A Hike owner Frank Barton said the reason retailers are leaving the area is pretty simple: There's not enough business.

When it opened three years ago, Take A Hike was counting on tourist and business travelers to buy travel and backpacking items as. well as goods for camping and canoeing.

"That just didn't materialize; of course, it's a different world than it was then," Barton said. "There are fewer people traveling."

After revenue remained flat for two years, he decided to close on Jan. 8.

He moved the store from the tree line strip of the River Market to Bowman Curve, where he said there's more traffic.

Barton's former neighbor, Vesta's, also will open up a shop across the street from him on Bowman Curve. "I think she'll do a lot better out here," Barton said.

Last year, River Market Trading Co., which was next to Vesta's, also closed. Other retailers are considering packing up too.

Gus Shuster, owner of River Market Wine & Spirits at 121 E. Markham St., said he's had about enough of the River Market with its lack of parking and high rent. He said he hasn't made up his mind yet, but he's considering leaving the space he's had since June 2001.

"It's hard for me to understand why (my landlord) charges $17 per square foot here, when in west Little Rock you could get it cheaper and there's a lot more traffic in west Little Rock," Shuster said.

The liquor store business is doing OK despite the lack of support from people who live and work in the area, he said.

"After they get off work they haul their butt home," Shuster said.

For the customers who do patronize the store, they complain that there's no place to park, Shuster said.

Doug Gorrell, co-owner of Brushstrokes Art Studio, which was next to the liquor store, said parking was the main reason he didn't renew his six-month lease in September.

Trying to find a space for parking "was a never-ending problem," he said.

Now he operates out of his house and the storefront remains empty, as does another space in the Block 2 redevelopment formerly occupied by Jozef Maria House of Fashion & Interior Design.

However, Barton said he never felt like parking was a problem for Take A Hike. He said he didn't put the store in the River Market to cater to Little Rock residents anyway.

David Patel, owner of Scoops Bread and Java at in the Heritage West Building at 201 E. Markham St., said there's little foot traffic in the area.

"There's no reason for foot traffic to be there right now," Patel said. "They're not going to come all the way downtown just to come to Scoops."

Jimmy Moses, a parmer with Moses Tucker Investments LLC of Little Rock, which has several projects in the River Market, disagrees.

"It's almost comical to hear some of the merchants who are leaving talk about lack of traffic," Moses said. "There's probably as much traffic here as virtually any center in Little Rock."

Betsey Martin, information specialist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Small Business Development Center, said there 'is a lot of pedestrian traffic because there's no place to park.

"The restaurants are doing well because people can walk to the River Market and have a nice lunch," Martin said.

Retailers

It may just be harder for retailers to make it in the River Market.

"When you're on your lunch break, do you go out and go shopping, or do you go out and eat?" asked Matthew Dean, owner of Trio's rivermarket at 225 E. Markham St.

And on the weekends, there aren't enough residents of the area to support retail, Dean said.

Patel also said he doesn't think anybody is coming downtown to shop, but part of the reason could bethe economy.

'While there is business turnover in the River Market, Eduardo Gomez, who has owned Andina Cafe & Coffee Roastery at 400 President Clinton Ave. for seven years, said he's not sure the turnover rate in the district is greater' than other places in the city. There's "no mass exodus," he said.

"Part of what's happening is the natural selection process in which businesses that aren't adequate for the moment probably aren't going to make it," Gomez said. "But I can drive down Cantrell Road and name two or three locations that have had five restaurants in the last two years.

It shouldn't be a Page i story just because a few shops closed their doors, Moses said.