Al Desio moves furnishings from Suzzana’s as he helps his wife, Suzzana Desio, clear out her downtown store.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[9/29/04]While many downtown merchants say their business is up since the completion of last year’s $8.2 million renovation of Washington Street, at least four shop owners are closing their doors only weeks before the holiday shopping season begins.

Gayle Barber, owner of Southern Exposure, 1416 Washington St., said her business fell off drastically after a move from South Frontage Road near The Home Depot about six months ago.

“There are just not enough customers down here,” Barber said.

She said her shop does about 10 percent of the business it was doing before and she is looking for a new location. Along with Barber, the owners of Sashay, Second Time Around and Suzanna’s are also planning to close.

Suzanna Desio moved her shop from her home at 3200 Washington St., to downtown earlier this year, but plans to return to the previous location next week. She said that moving to downtown didn’t help her business as much as she had hoped.

“I have a lot more traffic down here, but the sales are about the same,” Desio said.

The City of Vicksburg has spent $5.6 million on a downtown urban renewal project since 2002 and $2.6 million for brick paving through the five downtown blocks of Washington Street. The city also officially last week kicked off construction of a $2.6 million art park adjacent to downtown.

Mayor Laurence Leyens said the turnover is normal and believes the money was well spent.

“We hate to see businesses go, but it’s a normal market dynamic,” Leyens said.

Alice Hebler has owned Paper Plus at 1318 Washington St. for 16 years and said her business has been doing well since the downtown renovations.

“This is the biggest increase in sales I’ve ever had,” Hebler said.

Darlene Hortman, the owner of Sashay, 1312 Washington St., said her main reason for closing is to explore other opportunities and that she plans to continue being a part of downtown.

“This is just too much to do alone, and I just don’t have time for my family,” Hortman said.

Hortman shares her space with Regina Gailani, owner of Art and Soul of the South, who said she plans to expand her shop into the Sashay space. The two shops moved in together this spring from separate downtown buildings.

“Sales have improved over last year since we moved,” Gailani said.

The 1300 block of downtown Washington Street historically has been the best for business and three of the four stores that plan to close are in the 1400 block. Barber said one problem she has faced in her new location has been parking.

She said that many downtown residents, shop owners and employees park on Washington Street instead of the adjacent parking areas, making it difficult for customers to get to the stores.

“We called everybody we could, but no one will do anything about it,” Barber said.

Public parking is also available downtown in Horizon Casino’s two parking garages, which have walkways connecting them to Washington, and at Crawford Square, in the 1300 block of Washington Street. The city is also renovating the public parking garage at South and Walnut streets, one block east of Washington Street.

Rosalie Theobald, director of the Vicksburg Main Street program, said that she has addressed parking with shop owners at downtown merchants meetings.

“It’s an ongoing problem, but unless we put meters back up, we can’t stop it,” Theobald said.

She also said that ongoing downtown renovations including work at the former Western Auto building, 1517-19 Washington St., former Bell Brothers Shoes building, 1501 Washington St., will likely spur more downtown business.

“I’ve got several people that I’m talking to right now that are looking to come to Vicksburg,” Theobald said.

One prospect to open before the start of the holiday season is a toy store, she said. Several downtown events are also coming up in the next few months, including the annual fall festival this weekend.

Theobald said the three shops in the 1400 block, owned by George Jabour and his son, have not been rented to new tenants yet, but that people are looking at those properties. There are currently 130 downtown businesses in the Main Street district and about 15 vacant buildings on Washington Street and in the immediate area available.