Retail is up in downtown
David Czurak

Among those encouraged about the growth of the retail sector in downtown Grand Rapids are, from left, Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Jay Fowler, Sami Shatara, Marwan Kayyali and Basel Shatara of The Pita House, and Anne Marie Bessette, DDA development specialist.

Despite the dismal economy that has been threatening the city for the past 18 months, downtown Grand Rapids seems to be showing slow, steady growth in its retail sector.

Anne Marie Bessette, a development specialist with the Downtown Development Authority, recently filed a report that showed 14 new businesses have opened in the sector since September, while seven have closed or moved.

"To have a net growth of seven downtown businesses is great," said Mayor George Heartwell, especially in light of the current economic conditions.

Of the 14 that have opened, six are located on South Division Avenue. Four more have leased storefronts on Monroe Center, downtown's main street. Three of the new businesses replaced ones that closed. Three others to new locations downtown.

Two moved outside of the district. And one that relocated, Herkner Jewelers, will be replaced this fall with a new Mexican restaurant, Cinco de Mayo. Bessette did not include Cinco de Mayo on the list of new businesses.

The DDA now lists available storefronts on its Web site. Bessette said the listing had 32 spaces and the virtual site contained much of the information someone interested in setting up shop might need.

"We, too, need the tools to attract businesses," she said.

The DDA recently awarded Bessette $8,000 to create a marketing kit to recruit businesses downtown. Key to the kit will be the sector's demographics, which includes roughly 30,000 workers and thousands of college students.

Bessette said because few in both groups live downtown, they aren't represented on a census tract when a retailer is looking for population density and potential customers.

"We're not showing up on people's radar screens," she said.

Bessette hopes the kit will cure that problem. She plans to have it available later this summer and to distribute it to the city's commercial real estate firms. Plenty Creative, a downtown design firm, is putting the marketing kit together.

"We'll have it online, as well," she said.

DDA members also gave their blessings to two new requests for downtown Class C liquor licenses from Marado Sushi at 47 Monroe Center and Cinco de Mayo, which plans to open in the former Herkner Jeweler's space at 114 Monroe Center on October 15. Those applications have to be approved by the City Commission and the state's Liquor Control Commission.

Board member Cathy Mueller asked if the DDA could add a stipulation that would require liquor license applicants to ban smoking from its premises in order to be approved. She said having smoke-free establishments would appeal to the young people the city is trying to attract and retain. Mueller added that banning smoking would make the city appear to be more progressive.

Heartwell said the application standards are out of the city's hands because the process is rooted in state law. "That's a fight that has to be taken up at the state level," he said.

New downtown retail

Here are the 14 businesses that have opened downtown since last September.

Name A Modern Event Bill Kirk Bishop Baraga Bookstore Cheeky Strut Salon Ecouter Salon Grand Rapids Family Credit Union Madcap Coffee Mixtape Café My Bar & Grill Taquitos Mexican Grill The Pita House The Dragon Room Throwbacks Grill & Pub Unlocal Clothing

Location 125 Ottawa Ave. NW 235 S. Division Ave. 360 S. Division Ave. 216 Grandville Ave. SW 15 Ionia Ave. SW 87 Monroe Center 98 Monroe Center 133 S. Division Ave. 1 Ionia Ave. NW 327 S. Division Ave. 134 Monroe Center 48 W. Fulton St. 245 S. Division Ave. 62 S. Division Ave.

Source: Downtown Development Authority, May 2009.