BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Despite concerns over the past year about crime and construction leading to vacancies on the Church St. Marketplace, the Queen City’s premier shopping district, businesses and shoppers we spoke to say they are bullish about the future.
“where I’m from, I have nothing like this,” said Linda Nichols, who is visiting Burlington from Maine and was among shoppers checking out Church Street Friday ahead of the upcoming summer season. “You know, like this to me is fantastic because you can walk, you know, walk in the street — which is really cool — and the option of stores is unbelievable.”
While there are many options there are also many vacant storefronts. We counted more than 10, with some newly closed.
“It’s good to see some new businesses pop up, and I do think we’re going to see some shifts in the market mix on Church Street over the next year. But I will say — speaking with commercial real estate brokers — that interest in Church Street remains strong,” said Kelly Devine with the Burlington Business Association. She says there’s a nine percent vacancy rate at the marketplace but that some spaces already have new businesses moving in.
The Vermont Eclectic Company opened in November. Owner Jeff Bryant says the vacancy rate isn’t a concern and that he sees opportunity in open storefronts. “I think change is exciting. Sometimes change can be hard but I think we are little by little pushing through it. We’ve got new businesses coming in. There’s some really cool, cool places that are about to open and we’re just glad to be a part of the community.,” he said.
Customers say they worry too many shops geared towards tourists are coming to Church Street, leaving fewer options for residents to shop locally. However, the majority of residents we spoke with say they are still excited about downtown shopping.
“There’s a lot of like good stores, like bookstores, clothing stores, restaurants I feel like everyone goes to, Yeah, so I feel like Burlington has a lot of fun things going on,” said local resident Brenna Creamer.
The local attraction of downtown is also something officials are watching closely. “I do think that fewer local people have been coming downtown to shop and I want to be able to work with the city to talk about that and how that mix might work better for local people,” Devine said.