Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993 TAG: 9311220270
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The board learned at its meeting Thursday that Sonny's Place, a restaurant- deli operated by Sonny Gibson, is scheduled to close.
A report to Pulaski Town Council on 17 new businesses that have moved into Pulaski over the past year indicated that Main Street Gallery also may close before the end of the year.
Dave and Gaynelle Spangler renovated the restaurant building to operate their own restaurant, but kept it open for only a short time. Gibson replaced it with his restaurant.
Roscoe Cox, director of the Pulaski Main Street program, reminded the board that three other new restaurants are still operating downtown - the Renaissance and Main Street Cafe on Main Street, and Ellery's, an entertainment club that also will include a barbecue restaurant, on Washington Avenue.
The council report said that Jeanette Stephens had planned to exercise her option to buy the Main Street Gallery building but it is now questioning whether she will stay in Pulaski past the start of 1994.
Stephens also operates C&S Galleries in Dublin and has had to divide her management between the two.
But Cox told the board that he has had 10 new inquiries from people interested in locating businesses in Pulaski over the past month, and has shown the available buildings three times.
``I feel pretty confident that we will be able to fill all of these up, I hope by winter. I call winter somewhere around Feb. 15,'' he said.
He noted that Karen Graham, who operates the Somethin' Fishy pet store, had brought in two new businesses on either side of her store as a start to a minimall on the block of Main Street south of Washington Avenue. They include a NASCAR merchandise store and a bike shop.
Based on information he gathered at a Nov. 8 tourism conference staged in Marion by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, Cox predicted the bicycle store has a bright future - especially after the New River Trail State Park, used by hikers and bikers, is extended into Pulaski to the town's Train Station.
He said hiking and biking are among the fastest-growing outdoor activities in the state. ``These people have clubs for this,'' he said.
The program is also distributing information on Pulaski's growing antiques, art and music available downtown at Virginia welcome centers along interstate highways leading into the state.
``As of January 12, we will have in every center information on Pulaski,'' he said. ``Everybody under the sun is looking for tourists. ... We have got to promote this town, the whole town, as a tourist attraction.''
Main Street Board President Billy Smith said that same idea had been a major topic at a Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce work session held Wednesday.
Audrey Jackson said Pulaski and the surrounding area need to develop more motels, restaurants and bed and breakfasts for the many tourists who will be driving through the area in a few years to visit the recently announced Walt Disney Co. theme park to be built in Northern Virginia.
``We need to think right now about accommodating those people,'' she said. ``Do it before they open.''
Cox agreed to the need for more such businesses. ``The first step is to create an environment they will come to,'' he said.
Pulaski has gained several new restaurants in the past year and the Count Pulaski Bed and Breakfast is opening on Jefferson Avenue.
Paul Etzel, vice president of the Pulaski Business Alliance made up of downtown business people, said some members had questioned that organization's relationship with Pulaski Main Street.
The momentum of the alliance, which hoped to help promote downtown Pulaski, has been slowed by a lack of leadership, he said. Jeanette Stephens, its president, has not attended recent meetings and the group has been drifting, he said.
The next meeting of the alliance at which these problems will be discussed is 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Etzel's Renaissance Restaurant.
The alliance agreed to become a committee of the Main Street program, but Etzel said some members are having second thoughts about that because they are unsure how such an arrangement benefits them.
Cox said it allows the alliance to have nonprofit status under the umbrella of the Main Street organization. At some point, he said, the Main Street program will fade away and it will be up to a group such as the alliance to keep promoting downtown.
Several board members who kept track of where their customers had come from found relatively few from Pulaski. Most came from other areas and other states because of the advertising promotions by Main Street.
Some of the new shops depend almost exclusively on such customers, so the Main Street promotional activity is vital to them. Others cater to Pulaski itself, and still others have a mix of both customers.
The Main Street board believed that many business people in the alliance would not be making a living in Pulaski without the Main Street advertising activity. Etzel said that would be a focus of the discussion at Tuesday's alliance meeting.
by CNB