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Leesburg loses five businesses
In the past month, five stores in historic downtown Leesburg have announced they are closing, and another is trying to sell.
Potomac Gallery, Court House Deli & Grill, Morning Glory Bake Shoppe and Tea, English Manor Gardens & Interiors, and Market Street Coffee are shutting down. There and Again Bookstore is trying to sell the business -- inventory included.
The economy has hit most of the businesses hard, but personal reasons also are behind some of the closures.
Court House and Morning Glory served their last meals on June 5 and June 8, respectively. Their owners cited lack of foot traffic.
After 19 years in the historic downtown, Potomac Gallery is holding a going-out-of-business sale until its last day at the end of the month. And English Manor is scheduled to close the home interior shop at the end of June or beginning of July and possibly relocate to Middleburg. Both businesses' owners declined to comment.
Market Street Coffee owner Pat McKinney said she will close the coffee shop when her lease ends in August. The shop opened six years ago and was the first of her two coffee shops. McKinney will keep her Purcellville location open, and plans are under way for a Market Street Coffee to open in the Lovettsville Town Center.
“I'd like to stay in Leesburg, but the downtown area has been impossible,” McKinney said, citing a decline in foot traffic and expensive parking as reasons she will close the store. “I'm not prejudiced to downtown, but I need to be in a place where I can pay my bills.”
Vacancies on the rise
A stroll through the historic downtown commercial area – Loudoun, Market, King, Wirt, Liberty, Royal, Cornwall and Church streets -- turns up about 28 commercial spaces for lease or for sale. But that is only about 10 percent of the commercial market, according to Rich Vaaler, a 20-year veteran in the commercial real estate market with Sperry Van Ness/Vaaler Real Estate in Leesburg.
Betsy Fields, economic research analyst for the town, said she thinks the percentage is probably closer to 8 or 9 percent. Both Vaaler and Fields said no database gives the exact number of commercial space in the historic district.
“Ten percent is a little higher than what you would have in a great market, but I was here in the '90s, and it was pretty bad then,” Vaaler said.
He also likened the historic downtown in the 1990s to “the Wild West with tumbleweed rolling through the streets.”
“Even on our worst day, we are better than in the '90s,” he added. “This is just a little higher [vacancy rate] than a great market.”
Vaaler said in a great market there is about a 5 percent vacancy rate. He also added that Leesburg, and Loudoun as a whole, are moving in a positive motion, just not as fast as it was a couple of years ago.
“It is a sad situation,” said Karen Jones, Leesburg's business retention coordinator. “But it is broad reaching and goes beyond Leesburg.”
But Fields said the town is “very concerned.” She said town staff members want to meet with business owners “to help identify any issues we can help with.” Town staff members met with members of the Leesburg Downtown Business Association June 10 to discuss their concerns.
Fields also added that the community needs to get involved by supporting local businesses.
Temptations from outside
The historic Leesburg business community also is feeling the pressure in competing commercial space.
New commercial construction is directly marketing to some businesses downtown, trying to get the owners to move their store locations.
McKinney, of Market Street Coffee, said she is in talks with some developers on the eastern end of town to open possibly two Market Street Coffee shops in some of the new commercial areas.
Eyetopia owner Paige Buscema and Rouge Spa owner Anita Henry have been targeted by up-and-coming town centers such as Lansdowne to get them to move out of the downtown area. Both have turned down offers.
“It is a typical thing,” said Buscema. “They do outreach for viable businesses.”
Both Buscema and Henry said their hearts are in the historic Leesburg area and they do not plan on moving.
'The fight is on'
While some businesses are struggling, there are some business owners in historic Leesburg who say they are doing well.
Barbara Gardner, co-owner of Black Shutters Antiques, said the store has seen an increase in revenue from this time last year and is bringing in new, younger clients.
“We have been here 10 years and we continue to do well,” Gardner said.
Another shop that has seen an increase in revenue is The Cottage, which recently moved from West Market Street to 105 S. King St.
“Since moving, we have seen an increase in business,” said co-owner Ann Vaughan, adding that the new location is in a higher-traffic area.
Mike Carroll, owner of Leesburg Vintner, which has operated from the corner of King and Loudoun streets for 20 years, said his business has been going well because he has a loyal customer base.
Growing a customer base is what Henry, owner of Rouge, said small business is all about.
“We have been here five years this past November, and we have signed on for an additional five,” Henry said. “The fight is on and we won't give up. [Running a business] is not easy by a long shot, but we have dug our heels in and we are going to hang in there.”
Contact the reporter at lwolstenholme@timespapers.com
Sounds like the loss of some business might go hand in hand with the fading of one of America's treasures - The small town of Leesburg. People say economic times are the cause - could be. I don't know it just seems a shame that businesses that have been around for years are making way for "new" shops. If development continues and - the out with the old and in with the new way of thinking, Leesburg just might be another regular town in America - with pre-fabed stores and the only history that will be preserved will be in books. Or on the internet.
So Leesburg don't loose your charm.
Posted by stephen
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