Email
Print
Haven, Party Glitz join other recent downtown closings
Regan Hill
Party Glitz is the latest downtown Statesville victim of the recession. The owner of the East Broad Street store shut it down and will run the business from home.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 14, 2009
The increasing number of dark storefronts adorned with rental signs in downtown Statesville is signaling the economy has hit niche businesses hard locally.
The latest victims are Party Glitz event rentals and Haven Skateboard shop.
Haven will close by the end of the month. Party Glitz owner Chasity Turner left her East Broad Street storefront to run her event planning and rental business from home.
"I just didn't have enough business to keep store expenses," Turner said.
Haven and Party Glitz are following close behind Gracie Rae's Children's Boutique and Farmhouse Bakery, both of which shut their doors in September.
Downtown Statesville Development Corp. Executive Director Marin Tomlin said events such as PumpkinFest are the biggest tool DSDC has to pull people downtown for a glimpse of what it has to offer.
"I think we are looking into new avenues," Tomlin said. "We are looking at more social networking to find what is available downtown."
Downtown Statesville will soon be on Facebook, she said.
Turner moved her store from Gaither Road to East Broad Street in early 2008 to attract more foot traffic.
Business picked up for a while, she said, and she enjoyed the location. However, she said, people are doing more tasks themselves and borrowing items from friends and family for their weddings due to the economy.
Turner plans to continue providing props and linens for events, such as high school proms.
Haven is one of the last skateboarding footholds downtown.
Owners Jason Martin and Ryan Dillard opened the store in 2008 in the midst of the city's skate park debate to create a place for skateboarders to hang out and buy supplies.
"Haven didn't fail because of lack of sales potential," he said. "It failed because of the obstacles set before it. You couldn't change the mindsets or the attitudes."
Skate park backers have petitioned the Statesville City Council for funding for a park on several occasions, but were rejected in February 2008.
After the store was broken into in February and the Statesville City Council banned bike riding and skateboarding downtown at the end of 2008, Martin said his profits dropped dramatically and he started losing $1,500 a month on the store.
The skateboarding shop was never set up to be a big money maker, Martin said. He wanted a place for the skaters to hang out until after 6 p.m., when the city allowed them to skate.
Martin said he has tried to make Haven a part of the downtown community by participating in the annual Art Crawl, but he doesn't feel like the shop was given any respect.
"It was a whole attitude of neglect on the city's part," he said. "It's never been included because of skateboarding."
Tomlin said the ban was more of a safety issue.
Martin said the paintball portion of Haven will be moved into the front of his other business, The Computer Shop.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
