Downtown Wilmington businesses express concerns about Front Street construction
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Business owners in downtown Wilmington are expressing concerns about construction work on the North Front Streetscape project reducing the amount of foot traffic coming to their businesses.
North Front Street businesses say the summer season is usually their busiest time of year, but construction seems to have driven away some customers.
The first phase of the Front Street improvement project is underway on North Front Street, from Chestnut Street to Grace Street. Work began in the spring.
Although sidewalks are open, and the city of Wilmington has placed signs that say all businesses are open, some businesses say customers may not see the signs, or their businesses, leading them to believe they are closed.
“It is an incredible challenge to walk down this block, right now, and we have certainly had a lot of people who have made extraordinary efforts to get to us, –and they are extraordinary, and we are incredibly grateful to them. At times it is literally going around an entire block and then coming back and snaking around in order to do it,” said Gwenyfar Rohler, Old Books on Front St. managing partner.
One business says they have seen a significant decrease in sales since the construction began.
“Coming right out of Covid, and then finally hoping that this would be somewhat of a quote, unquote, normal summer compared to what we have been going through, it just is a big hindrance on the ability to king of get back to where we were, but yeah I would say, at least a 10% decrease in sales and its really obvious based upon the amount of people we would normally have visiting our store,” said Louise Rose, Desert Rose co-owner.
A spokesperson with the City of Wilmington says they have been communicating with businesses as they work around challenges presented by the construction.
“We’ve been working with individual businesses well before the project started, each business has a different set of circumstances. Sometimes that has to do with access, load ins, load outs, and we’ve got people on site, construction supervisors, and the contractor, working with people on the individual basis, because literally we’re going to be pouring concrete, new sides walk right in front of their shops,” said Dylan Lee, City of Wilmington spokesperson.
The project began in the spring, later than planned due to supply chain issues. Some businesses feel there has not been enough communication when it comes to updates on the construction.
“There’s been a lack of transparency in getting the information out to all the business centers and exactly what is going on, like with these different phases, things like that, –we’re just unsure. So, having it be pushed back is now going to make a big difference on our holiday season,” said Rose.
The entire construction project on north front street is expected to be completed by November.
