THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CASWELL RICHARDSON, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
PHOTOGRAPHS of downtown Norfolk's Granby Street from the mid-1940s show another world. Department stores bustled with activity and sidewalks overflowed with shoppers.
The Granby Street of today, for the most part, is a lifeless husk of its former being.
Enter Richard Morton, a fashion and retail merchandiser with a plan to make Granby Street thrive once again. If his vision, which is shared by business and city leaders, proves true, it may signify a new era of social and economic opportunities for Hampton Roads teen-agers.
Morton, who owned Threads & Co., a vintage clothing shop in Norfolk, and who will open a similar shop on Colonial Avenue and 21st Street, considers Granby Street an opportunity waiting to happen.
With the completion of the Norfolk Tidewater Community College looming nigh, a new population of shoppers will soon be flooding the area. TCC officials predict that the new campus will ultimately draw thousands of students. It's hoped the influx will stimulate the development of new businesses. Morton hopes to use his skills as a haberdasher to ``take (Granby Street) from being a ghost town to a viable shopping district with people on the streets.''
Sensing that the area has potential, he yearns to see the downtown as a center of cultural activity, much like the metropolitan environment of New York. ``What I want to see is life on the streets after 5 o'clock,'' said Morton.
According to area teens, ``life after 5'' is one of this area's deficiencies. Adam Shahan, a senior at Maury High School in Norfolk, says that there is little to do ``beyond the party circuit.''
Adam thinks that a restored downtown would stir up opportunities for teen-agers because it would be an area with a distinct identity and reputation. ``I'm talking along the lines of (Greenwich) Village in New York,'' Adam said.
Morton's ultimate vision of Granby Street is a cohesive group of businesses along Granby Street run by retail merchants whom he refers to as ``economic pioneers.'' The businesses would advertise and market their products collectively.
Morton hopes to continue the precedent set by the 100 block of Granby Street, which boasts stores such as Zeitgeist Art Gallery and Emerson Fine Tobaccos stores with markets complementary to one another.
``What (he and the other merchants) are hoping to do is expand on the idea of the 100 block, and reestablish Granby Street as the lifeblood of downtown. The new population base from TCC will help start the ball rolling in this direction,'' said Morton.
With Threads & Co. as his springboard for establishing a foundation in the community, and the new shop opening by mid-March, he hopes to open a business on Granby Street within the next two years. ``With luck we'll have the show in full swing by the year 2000,'' he said.
While the revived Granby Street may not be the same as that of yesteryear, Morton believes that it will be a landmark in Norfolk's economical progress. ``Granby Street will be back . . . with a vengeance,'' he said.
Maybe then, a sense of identity and a valid social scene for teens will emerge. . . ``with a vengeance''. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Caswell Richardson is a senior at Maury High.
by CNB