Some of the businesses in Newburyport had a great season, many are “holding on” and some are moving on. “This is the time to close if you are going to” remarked Ann Lagasse of Newburyport Development, who owns two of the properties that have recently been vacated. “It’s a tough time of year, January- March”. She went on to say that is why Newburyport needs to work to become a year round destination and not be so dependent on day trippers and seasonal tourism, she added, “People are up in Portsmouth shopping in January and February”.
Lagasse said that often people close their businesses for a “mixture of personal reasons and business decisions”. The owner of Petite Bijou has decided to move on to new pursuits, and Night and Day has decided to consolidate back to just one location: it’s flagship store in Andover. Newburyport Development is working on filling both spaces and has a long list of interested parties from which to choose. We asked for a hint as to what was coming and were told, “It’s such a diverse list, and we are still in the talking stages, that I don’t want to share details yet.”
We asked what Newburyport Development’s plans were for helping to create a downtown that was more conducive to year round shopping and Lagasse was quick to say, “We need a hotel or Inn”. Newburyport Today cited the argument that we do have many small boutique Inns and hotels, but Lagasse pointed to the fact that they don’t offer business amenities and space large enough for conferences and meetings. She also added, “If we were a more well known destination, the smaller hotels would benefit as well”.
Lagasse added that parking is also an issue, though not the relevant one in the winter months. “People have made it clear that they want convenient affordable parking.” In the Spring/Summer months the NRA charges for parking in it’s lots, Lagasse said that retailers loose local customers during the weekends because “locals have said they are not going to pay $8.00 to park downtown”. She added, “It’s a real problem if we can’t even attract our local population.”
So while Newburyport continues to evolve, it is clear that there will be some new faces added to the mix downtown. Our friends at Newburyport Biz report that the space Windsor and Davis has vacated has already been filled. This combined with Newburyport Development’s enthusiasm for its potential tenants is a reassuring sign.
