Augusta Road residents, businesses look to the future

By Cindy Landrum  

DECEMBER 21, 2011 5:54 p.m. (0)

If Greenville’s commercial corridors were family members, Augusta Street would be a family’s well-to-do, quirky aunt.

“Augusta Street is unique to the city,” said Tracy Ramseur, the city’s development coordinator for the city’s economic development department who grew up in the area just outside of downtown and the West End. “There’s really no other area quite like it.”

Augusta has been called the city’s “boutique” with locally owned businesses that have been there for generations, such as Pickwick Pharmacy and The Grey Goose, and businesses that have opened recently, such as Zoe’s Kitchen.

“Many of the owners are from Greenville and they know their customer base well,” said Cheryl Hoskins, owner of The Grey Goose, a children’s store that started on Cleveland Street across from Sirrine Stadium before moving to the Augusta area about a dozen years ago. “They know their retail niche.”

But parts have lost some of their luster in recent years. Some of the street’s shopping areas are looking old and tired and others have seen retailers come and go. Retail sales have decreased from $141.4 million in 2008 to $99.8 million in 2010, the years hardest hit by the recession.

“Businesses have come and gone over the years, but you’ll find that in older areas anywhere,” Hoskins said. “It looks a little more prominent than if you look at some of the strip centers in other areas, but there are holes there as well.”

Kelly Odom, owner of Pickwick and president of the Augusta Road Business Association, said Augusta is vital because it is often the first thing visitors see. But, he said, some areas of Augusta that need sprucing up are outside the city limits.

Mayor Knox White said a lot of older buildings exist in the corridor.

“It’s looking a little blighted on Augusta Road,” he said.

But the area is still strong, he said.

“Its secret of economic success is the hospital,” he said. “Augusta leans on the neighborhood on weeknights and weekends, but depends on hospital employees during the week.”

Augusta is one of the commercial areas the city officials plan to concentrate on when it comes to façade improvements, streetscaping and pedestrian access.

An example is Augusta Village, Ramseur said. The space occupied by the Rite-Aid Pharmacy was divided into space occupied by three businesses: Wisteria Spa, Bella’s Bridesmaid and Vestidi.

“That’s a great example of an older shopping center with not a lot of interest putting some money into their property and generating interest,” Ramseur said. “It will be used as a model for other parts of Augusta.”

Ramseur said Augusta needs a balance of locally owned higher-end boutique-type shops with national and regional chain retailers and restaurants.

“The chains interested in Augusta Road fit in with the character of the neighborhood,” Ramseur said.

Retailers that would fit on Augusta Road are different from those who want to locate on Woodruff Road or Haywood Road.

“The national retailers know which ones are successful in places like Augusta Road. They want to be there,” Ramseur said. “That’s their niche.”

Ramseur said retailers such as Talbots and Chico’s coincide with Augusta’s boutique feel.

“I think you need both on Augusta. You need the local stores as well as the Panera Bread and Starbucks,” she said.

Hoskins said while chains locating in the area concern her, it’s inevitable.

“Any profitable popular shopping area will end up with them at some point,” she said. “Sometimes it makes a nice mix as long as it fits in with the flavor of the shopping area.”

Odom agrees, saying it depends on how it’s developed.

“Big box chains have come in, and I don’t want to say bullied their way in, but what they did is not cohesive with the rest of the neighborhood,” he said. “There’s room for chains on Augusta Road, but it really all depends on how it’s developed.”

Odom said national chains are building smaller buildings in other cities such as Charlotte. “But we’re not seeing it in Greenville yet,” he said.

Zoe’s Kitchen, which opened recently, is a regional chain that looked for a location on Augusta or in downtown for two years before locating in the shopping center that houses Starbucks and 32 Degrees, a regional frozen yogurt restaurant.

Ramseur said she expects redevelopment of the Augusta@Faris shopping center to occur in the next year to 18 months. The shopping center is about half empty, and faded canopies tell passers-by of the businesses that used to be there.

White said the shopping center could be demolished and new retail space built.

“It’s a challenging site with topography issues and parking,” Ramseur said.

City officials want to continue streetscaping like the work done near Starbucks in other areas of Augusta, White said.  It also plans on relocating power poles from beside the street to the back of properties from Capers to Lupo Street.

“Streetscaping and infrastructure improvements send the signal to private investors that this is a good place to do business,” White said. “Our biggest challenge on Augusta is what to do with the old buildings and out-of-control signage.”

The city will have to have one-on-one discussions with landowners and businesses to improve and upfit their properties, he said.

Ramseur said one of the challenges on Augusta is it is not as walkable in some areas as it needs to be. Odom said he’s seeing more pedestrians on Augusta, but said the area needs crosswalks.

“Residents and businesses are predominantly multi-generational who live, work, play, go to school, go to church in the Augusta Road area as did their fathers and grandfathers,” said Odom, who said Pickwick has been in the Augusta Road area since 1933 and at its current site since 1947. “You don’t see that anywhere else in Greenville.”