Businesses close or leave Palmer behind

PALMER — After a summer of discontent and fearing a lonely winter, many downtown retailers find themselves either shuttering their shops or searching for greener pastures.

Speaking before the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce, Denise Statz reported that five of the six retailers in the Downtown Palmer Plaza have announced they are either closing or moving to locations outside Palmer.

Statz is the owner of Non-Essentials, a high-end food shop, and is a partner in Cups, Cones and Candy, both of which are locking their doors. While it’s easy to place blame with the national and international economy, that is too simplistic of an explanation, she said.

“A series of things affected us all,” Statz said. “I would have stayed with my game plan to make it through the fourth quarter had I not seen what was happening all across the board.”

What was happening, she said, was owners of small businesses losing confidence in the business climate of the city.

It started with the plans for the Palmer couplet, Statz said. Speeding cars past stores would kill businesses along the route, she said, including hers. Despite the popular dissent once the plan came to light, businesses had to put up their own money to fight the project with the city council, she said.

Not only did the economy keep shoppers home this summer, Statz said, but the plague of road closures steered them away from downtown. With sometimes five different roads closed, the loss of traffic in front of the stores was tremendous, she said.

Finally, with the announcement of the cancellation of the Colony Christmas Train, Statz had had enough. The train not coming will kill a huge portion of her holiday business, she said. She said while only 300 people ride the train, the family they meet once in Palmer is essential to her yearly bottom line.

The cancellation of the Christmas train was the straw that broke the back of Gladheart Acres, said owner Rick Shields. The honey, soap and sundries business is actually expanding during the economic crunch, but chose to do so by moving to a bigger space in Creekside Plaza in Wasilla.

“We constantly got a feeling from the local air and other small business owners that the city council has zero interest in small businesses,” Shields said.

It’s sad, Shields said, because Palmer is a potential gold mine. Without too much effort, the city could become something like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, an attraction that would draw more people to the local shops, he said.

“As it is now, it’s a known fact people will drive from Palmer to Wasilla to shop, but not from Wasilla to Palmer,” Shields said.

The Christmas train was a good example of what should be done, creating a Dickensian atmosphere in Palmer that drew people from Anchorage, Shields said.

In addition to Gladheart Acres, Valley Winery has already opened its new location on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, and Avenue Seven is packing its stocks for the move to Wasilla.

The Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce is the organization that runs Colony Christmas. Jillyan Webb, the executive director, said the reality of situation is the rail tracks north of the South Palmer station simply are not safe. In the past, the trains had to be walked down the tracks by Alaska Railroad volunteers, she said. The chamber begged and pleaded with the railroad board of directors to continue, she said, but they gave the train the ax at their last meeting.

Initial estimates to upgrade the tracks to a 10-mile-an-hour rating range from $600,000 to $1 million, Webb said. The chamber looked at busing people from the South Palmer station, but paying the charter companies to de-winterizing their buses was simply too expensive.

“We’re looking at losing 175 to 200 people,” Webb said. “With good marketing, we think we can bring that many down here without the train.”

As for the overall business climate in the city, Webb said the chamber’s membership is staying fairly level for the time being. But, she said, dues have already been paid for this year, and she understands the road closures have hit some downtown businesses pretty hard.

The city council is actively addressing road closures with both the chamber and the Downtown Merchants Association, Councilman Michael Chmielewski said. While this undoubtedly hurt some businesses, there are other factors that have to be taken into account, he said.

“How much did the work that was done affect things?” Chmielewski said. “Do we have a lower number of people coming into Palmer because of a overall drop in tourists? Do we have an accurate indication of the change in the level of discretionary income? All those factors together create a pretty severe impact.”

The council has every intention to do what is possible to enhance the business climate, and the commitment is there to provide the infrastructure for businesses, Chmielewski said. However, only when things go wrong do people look at the city, he said.

“You don’t hear about it when the streets are smooth and the sun is shining,” he said.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.