Downingtown Experiencing Retail Growth
By SARAH E. MORAN
DOWNINGTOWN —
Amid the papered-over storefronts in this borough are new signs
of retail life.
A handful of new stores have opened in recent months and more
are in the works, according to interviews with local business
owners.
That makes some of Downingtown’s current retailers — especially those new to town — optimistic that the business climate is turning around for this 2.2-square-mile borough along the banks of the Brandywine.
“Business has been strong,” said Kyle Flanagan, who opened One Man’s Treasures, a consignment shop in the 100 block of East Lancaster Ave., last November. “New people are coming into town and people like dealing with local merchants instead of always going to the mall or Wal-Mart.”
Next door to Flanagan’s is All-Star Images, a barber shop that business partners Jermaine Reynolds and Jermaine Thomas opened in January. (A third barber, Tom Abel, also works there.) Business is brisk, Reynolds said. Before opening All-Star Images, Reynolds and Abel worked at Blessed Images across from the Downingtown train station, and Thomas, at Leon’s in West Chester.
Next door to All-Star Images is Short and Sweet, a gourmet and specialty gift shop. Laurie Sweet moved her business from home to the borough last winter, and sales are picking up despite the fact that Downingtown foot traffic isn’t what it should be. “People are finding me, thank goodness,” said Sweet.
Originally, when the parking spaces in front of her store were eliminated to open up a lane and alleviate the traffic bottleneck at the routes 322 and 30 traffic light, “I was upset about it. People had to walk instead of parking right in front of my store. But it hasn’t turned out to be a problem, and now drivers — sometimes still stuck in traffic — can take a closer look through my windows.”
Contributing to the lack of foot traffic in the borough is the fact that the entire second floor of the three-story Roberts Building, at the corner of Route 322 and Business Route 30, is vacant.
Once the headquarters of First Financial Bank, which was acquired by Willow Grove Bancorp in August 2005, the building is now home to a Willow Financial bank branch (the new name of the combined bank) on the first floor and lending on the third.
On the same side of the street is Confectionately Yours, a gourmet chocolates, party and gift store owned by Melanie Lammers, that opened in April. Once operating her business from home, the Uwchlan resident decided to move it to Downingtown to expand her offerings. Relocating her business from home had to be close by, however, because Lammers has three small children.
“I think things are opening up and turning around in Downingtown,” she said. “This will take some time, though.”
Kitty-corner from Confectionately Yours on Park Lane is Studio 3, which recently changed hands and expanded its offerings. Kyley Hellhake is the new owner; she bought Studio 3 from long-time owner Mary Holleran, who retired.
Hellhake has added more fine arts (prints plus originals, many from local artists) and now offers photo finishing services.
On Wallace Avenue, just off Lancaster Avenue, is the new Mexican restaurant Las Comadres, which means the godmothers in Spanish. Owner Carlos Castellanos, who has two food wagons in Coatesville, said patrons there urged him to open a restaurant.
“August is slow but people are starting to find us,” he said, as patrons sipped Mexican sodas and waited as their fragrant tacos and quesadillas sizzled on the grill.
Next door to Las Comadres is Wizard and Co., a tattoo parlor that relocated from West Chester last fall. “Rent prices got too high and we decided to move, ” said Andy Harris, manager.
Wizard and Co. rarely advertise, relying instead on word-of-mouth and a loyal customer base from its days in West Chester, he added.
The reopening of the new Dane Decor store earlier this year, after a fire nearly leveled the place last summer, also revitalized the borough, these store owners said.
Other plans are in the works, among them one to turn the Brandywine Paper Mill site into a restaurant with other adjacent shops, and a possible six-story condominium nearby with first-floor parking.
And moves are afoot to convert the 76-acre former Sonoco Products Co. site into a mixed use development called River Station. The Percheron Group, an East Whiteland real estate development company, bought the site in March 2006. About 65 percent of the land is in East Caln; the rest is in the borough.
To contact staff writer Sarah E. Moran, send an e-mail to smoran@dailylocal.com.