Ways to buoy up merchant base studied

Businesses have come and gone in Spencerport’s downtown area over the years without causing too much concern for the people of the village, but the closing of Jubilee about a month ago has many residents frustrated over the loss of their neighborhood grocery store, and worried for other businesses which may depend on the shoppers it brought to the area.

"It’s the first time in 42 years there has not been a grocery store in the village," said Joan Quigley, of Maplewood Avenue. Quigley recalls fondly the friendly, family-owned grocery stores she has patronized since moving to the village, and laments their passing. "It’s terrible," she said.

Betty Spencer, Union Street, has lived in the village for 45 years. She said she can remember a time when the village supported three or four small grocery stores at a time, including an IGA, a Hart’s Food Store and a Red & White.

"Times have changed dramatically," Spencer admits. "I would love to go back to the day….." Although she knows the days of the small "mom and pop" grocers, butchers and five-and-dimes are over, she also knows that having a grocery store is essential to the village’s economic health.

"We desperately need a grocery store," she said. "I think about the people coming through on the canal in the summertime," she said. Boaters in need of groceries won’t be stopping in Spencerport. "If we want to promote the canal as part of a tourist business in the village we need to have a grocery store."

Chamber of Commerce President Tim Carr agreed, and called Jubilee’s closing a major loss to the village. "Chamber members are very concerned about not having a grocery store," he said. In addition to the loss residents are suffering, "Businesses will suffer too, from the loss of foot traffic," Carr said.

As residents are forced to leave the village to buy groceries in Greece, Gates or Chili, they may make other purchases there, he said. Shoppers in outlying areas who want to do all their shopping in one trip, may not visit the village at all—not good for the downtown district, which already has two vacant storefronts.

What can the village and the chamber of commerce do to help?

Spencerport Mayor Theodore Walker remains optimistic about the condition of the village’s commercial district. "We have a good core group of business owners who are very concerned about the whole village, who get out and participate. That’s encouraging," he said. "We haven’t gotten too involved in the past," Walker said, although it is something the village board has had on its agenda for quite some time. He said the village’s involvement is vital to the business district’s health. "We are hoping to in the near future," he said.

"Our position has been we will do anything we can to encourage business," Walker said. He said making the village proactive, finding ways to attract new business and services to the downtown area, will be one of the responsibilities of new Village Administrator Alan R. Scheg.

Walker said there are several ways the village can encourage commercial growth. He said he considers the good working relationship between the village and the town of Ogden key.

Coordinating information on demographics, advertising media and promotions for potential and existing business owners can help, he said. An alliance with the Genesee-Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council, which has information on area needs and available grants, is another avenue he will pursue.

Walker said the village’s support of the chamber of commerce and continuing canal development are crucial. Promotion of village festivals such as "Christmas on the Canal" and "Canal Days," and programming like the summertime music on the canal series will bring more people into the village.

The village’s architectural review board, which establishes aesthetic guidelines for new construction and renovations in the commercial district, was set up to help encourage business growth, Walker said.

"It was not just to add more rules. It is to help bring continuity of some type to the village, enhance the businesses’ aesthetics, to entice people to come in and run businesses," he said. "It looks 'up' and 'prospering' so the whole village looks good for businesses and customers."

Bill Sullivan purchased the Spencerport Paint and Decorating Center about one month ago, and said he has found the village easy to work with, and thinks its architectural review board is on the right track.

"The village has been very reasonable. The things they asked us to do should be done," he said. A longtime resident and business owner, Sullivan said he believes in the village’s economic viability.

"I’ve done business in Spencerport for a lot of years. I’m optimistic." When the former owner of Spencerport Paint and Decorating Center decided to open a flooring business in North Chili, Sullivan said he saw the store as a great opportunity for himself.

Now Sullivan’s Spencerport Paint and Decorating Center is preparing to move about 100 feet, into the building which formerly housed the post office, at 174 South Union Street. "It’s a better building for what I need," he said, citing more parking, and the loading dock. He plans to expand his paint, wallpaper and window treatment lines and begin wholesaling to contractors.
"I had a chance to go other places, I stayed in Spencerport purposefully," he said. "Spencerport is a growing area. Obviously there have been some problems in keeping businesses in downtown, I am hoping that’s just a cyclical thing."

Plenty of business owners are banking on the future of the village. A new children’s clothing shop, Westside Kids, recently opened at Route 31 and Route 259, and two new stores, Evelyn’s Ambry, women’s apparel, and Union St. Primitives, for antiques and crafts, are open downtown.

When asked what should be done to encourage growth and help small business survive, Sullivan said, "I don’t know the answer to that. It’s tough for the little guys to compete. Anybody who tells you the answer is just making it up."

Fred Holbrook is heading up the new economic development committee for the chamber of commerce. He said the committee has no specific plans yet to help bring new business into the village of Spencerport.

"Growth in the whole area is our charge," he said, including all of Ogden and southern parts of Parma. He said the area as a whole is healthy, emphasizing industrial growth as especially important. He did agree that the village needs a grocery store.

"We’re not happy to see Jubilee close…we hope it (the grocery store building) will be filled as soon as possible," Holbrook said. "We don’t like to see any area hurt."

Carr said the role of the chamber of commerce is to work with the village, town and plaza and building owners to promote the area and fill empty storefronts. As of now, the chamber does not have any specific plans to market the village’s vacant stores, or to initiate contact with potential grocery stores.

"The chamber would support a new store owner in any way we could," he said, but said community support is essential. "The only way to keep a grocery store alive and vibrant in the village of Spencerport is … for business owners and people to go to the store, and purchase, and support it."

"Businesses aren’t supported by local people," said Walker. "The flipside is, we need to have the businesses and services people need."

Supporting local business

"I love Spencerport and I would shop for anything I could get here, rather than go to the malls," said Spencer. She said there are some people who will purchase from local businesses simply because they are local, but most just want a good deal.

"If you have a good product at a fair price you will do well," she says of downtown merchants. She said she doesn’t think there is a big problem with empty storefronts downtown. "There have been changes over the years. One comes, one goes. Different needs arise."

"The chamber of commerce is really doing a good job (supporting) the downtown area," she said.

For now, however, it is the loss of their grocery store that will have the most effect on residents' daily lives.

As she is being interviewed over the telephone, Spencer wonders aloud whether she remembered to pick up celery for her Thanksgiving stuffing. It is obvious she does not relish fighting Ridge Road traffic and battling superstore crowds to find one item.

"I was in Jubilee two, three, four times a week," said Quigley. "I didn’t have to worry about forgetting something." Quigley’s days of walking to the store to pick up a few ingredients for dinner are over, unless plaza owner Alan Goldstein finds a new grocer to fill the space. A spokesperson for Goldstein Manangement would not comment on plans for the plaza.

Paul Gilbert, in the real estate and enterprises office at Wegmans, confirmed that the grocery chain owns a large parcel of property at Routes 31 and 259, but said there are no plans to develop that land..

Editor's note: While the focus of this article was on Spencerport's main street business district, other areas of merchant growth in the area include Spencer's Landing, located on the south side of the Erie Canal; Barefoot Landing, about one-half mile north of the Erie Canal; and Village Square on West Avenue.