THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606150417
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 98 lines
Some two hundred thousand people roamed the downtown waterfront last weekend for Harborfest, but the upscale clothing store Beecroft & Bull saw few potential customers in the crowd.
For the third year in a row, Beecroft & Bull closed its doors at noon Friday and did not open them again until Monday morning. Few of the T-shirt clad festival goers were interested in shopping for Italian linen shirts or imported tweeds. The store's regular weekend customers did not care to brave the crowds or jockey for parking.
``We got more requests to use our restrooms than to come in and look around,'' said sales associate Tony Wasco at Beecroft about years past. ``We didn't do any business.''
Retail stores and restaurants up and down Main and Granby streets, and as far away as Ghent, echo this lament. Harborfest drove away business, they say.
The mixed fortunes of businesses during Harborfest illustrate an ongoing point of discussion among urban planners and others interested in reviving downtowns: There is a difference between a tourism or festival-based economy, and one that relies on people who regularly live, work and shop downtown.
Ultimately, the two economies can conflict because an established restaurant or clothing store has a different clientele than a souvenir shop that relies on tourists or casual visitors.
``It's an ongoing debate, whether or not festival or special events are good or bad for a downtown environment,'' said Karen Scherberger, executive director of Festevents, which coordinates most downtown events. It no longer coordinates Harborfest, which split off from Festevents last year.
In Hampton Roads the city is striking the right balance, Scherberger said.
``We are really attuned to what the impact is on established businesses.''
Norfolk has reduced to 75 the number of festival and special event days, Scherberger said, down from a high of 175 a few years ago. The city also closes fewer streets in an effort not to disrupt regular businesses.
But Harborfest and other festivals also help in the long run by familiarizing people with downtown, Scherberger said. A customer may not shop at Beecroft & Bull while at the Bayou Boogaloo festival next weekend but may return another day to do so.
``I've been around 14 years, and I've heard the concerns of various businesses, but I also know there are a lot of people who come back and support these businesses later, after the festival,'' Scherberger said. ``I hear people say `I didn't realize there was such a nice clothing store here,' and that they would come back.''
Some businesses were helped by Harborfest. The 404-room Norfolk Marriott Hotel on Main Street was fully booked, mostly with people who have made a tradition of renting rooms during the festival.
Even though Harborfest hurts some businesses, overall it brings thousands of dollars into the city and is a net gain financially, said Don Walker, executive director of Harborfest.
Walker said his staff has had difficulty calculating specific numbers. But he noted that the city fills its parking garages, that vendors at the festival do well and that most hotels are full.
``There are just lots of dollars turning over,'' Walker said.
Vann Massey, general manager of Waterside, said business was down from Harborfest last year, probably because of rain Sunday. But it was still much busier than a usual weekend, he said.
Businesses at the Waterside festival marketplace, which is adjacent to Town Point Park, said the weekend was their biggest of the year.
``It was slamming in here,'' said Jean Goodwyn, a clerk at Bismark's Gourmet Coffee on the ground floor of Waterside. ``It was very busy.''
Some downtown merchants hope the city will work harder to make downtown a place to live and work, which will in turn build a stable retail customer base not dependent on festival goers.
``The waterfront can be put to better use than just having a big party,'' said Wiley Francisco, who co-owns the art gallery Calvin & Lloyd on Granby Street, and whose business suffered during Harborfest. ``We need to get away from this idea of making downtown into a theme park.''
The city closed Waterside Drive during Harborfest, set up shuttle parking lots and restricted much of the regular street parking.
``It killed our business,'' said April Holland, co-owner of DAS Salon on 21st Street in Ghent. ``We sent everyone home early, both Friday and Saturday. Our phones weren't even ringing.''
Many of their weekend customers, Holland said, usually come from Virginia Beach and other communities outside Norfolk. These visitors were intimidated at facing traffic problems on their way to Ghent, Holland said.
The downtown Norfolk 2000 plan, which is under revision, calls for lines of brick townhouses between Boush and Duke streets. Built where now are parking lots, these would help graft downtown and Granby Street to the more residential Freemason area. But this plan is still in conceptual stages.
Francisco said his business suffered because of overall traffic restrictions, and through smaller actions by the city. Norfolk bagged all the meters on his block of Granby Street during Harborfest, for example, which meant his customers had no easy place to park.
Different festivals or special events can help or hurt, depending on the type of business, Scherberger said. An art gallery on Granby, she said, might sell some paintings during the Art Explosure festival in May.
``These concerns are not atypical across the country,'' Scherberger said. ``Certain businesses will do better during certain festivals. I'd like to think that every business will have its day in the sun.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color photo of sailboats on the Elizabeth River]
KEYWORDS: HARBORFEST FESTIVAL DOWNTOWN NORFOLK BUSINESS
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