Options offered for small town business districts in decline

The paint is peeling off the buildings’ bricks. One store has a mess of paint cans and tools in the front window; the window next door is full of scattered mannequin heads. Behind a window another block over, pink, green and yellow sinks ­lie in an awkward stack.

This is downtown Monroe City, where a hodgepodge of run-down stores and vacant buildings are evidence of a business district in decline. It’s a sight that’s all too common in the small towns of Missouri’s Ninth District.

The Ninth District state representative candidates, Republican Kathyrne Harper and Democrat Paul Quinn, say they want to change that.

“Many of our buildings are falling into disrepair, that is something we face in all small towns,” Harper said, adding that the state should set aside more money to support downtowns’ infrastructures.

Quinn said he too often reads about another business in the district closing. “It’s a major issue to try and work with the communities to keep the businesses open.”

Quinn said he thinks all cities should try to have initiatives to restore their downtowns, but he is not sure how much state money could be funneled into such programs, given “the state’s tight budget and candidates pushing for money to go toward other issues, such as education.”

Harper said she would consider a program in which the state would match any money that a city or county put toward rejuvenating a business district. She recognized Gov. Matt Blunt’s Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri Initiative, also known as the DREAM Initiative, which began this year. Harper said that while it’s a good program, only one of the 98 cities that applied for DREAM grants is in the Ninth District. That was Glasgow.

The DREAM Initiative selected 10 cities this year for financial assistance or tax credits to improve infrastructure, preserve historic buildings and spur economic development in their downtown districts. DREAM also provides urban planning consultants to communities that pay a certain percentage of the costs.

Aside from state aid, some cities have programs set up through chambers of commerce or downtown business groups to help town squares thrive. But they aren’t always cutting it.

Fayette’s Main Street Inc. received a $300,000 federal grant that went toward new sidewalks and street lights as the first phase of a 10-year plan to improve the appearance of its downtown, said board president Dawn Huckins. After the group’s executive director left, however, local donations waned as people waited to see what the group would do next.

But Huckins said that local money is necessary to pay for a new director who could work on landing more grants. “So now, we’re kind of stuck at an impasse,” she said.

Most of the decent looking buildings in Fayette’s town square are owned by franchises, such as Subway and Dollar General. The others, including several antique shops, look neglected.

A big hole, where a building is being razed, sits next to the new Bangkok Cuisine restaurant. Fayette residents have complained that there’s nothing to do downtown except eat.

Harper said she recognizes the difficulties small stores face in competing with larger cities.

“We want people from bigger cities, like Columbia, to say they would love to come shop here (in Fayette),” said Harper, who, with her husband, owns Cafe Mosaic, a coffee shop on Fayette’s town square. “We still want to stay a small town, but a little growth wouldn’t hurt.”

Stephanie Fuemmeler, president of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said it will take more than state money to revive rural downtown districts. What’s necessary, she said, is “people changing their habits and getting out of the routine of always heading to big box stores.”

David Ritchie, part owner of the Ritchie & Sons hardware store in Sturgeon, would probably agree. He operates a business that’s been in his family since his grandfather opened it in 1901 and said competing is difficult.

It’s “something we struggle with every day,” he said.

Still, Sturgeon residents are a loyal customer base.

“People come in after having been at a bigger store complaining that the teenage employee there didn’t know what he was talking about,” Ritchie said.