The road construction on Old Lancaster Pike is more than just a nuisance to some businesses lining the street – it’s having a serious impact on their bottom lines.
The Hockessin Grassroots will close by the end of the month, partly due to loss of business from the construction, said owner Kristin Short, and other stores along the pike have seen huge drop-offs in customers.
“We just can’t take another seven months of this,” Short said. “We’re going to be at a loss at the end of the year, no doubt.”
Due to the economy, Grassroots’ business is down about 20 percent at its Newark and Brandywine Hundred locations and the company was forced to close its Trolley Square store earlier this year, Short said, but the Hockessin store, once the second best for volume, is 35 percent off last year’s numbers.
Old Lancaster Pike has been closed often over the past few weeks, she said, and those weeks are typically the time retail businesses earn most of their profits.
Most of the shoppers who decide to brave the sea of orange traffic cones don’t know how to get to her store and sometimes the flagger just waves shoppers in the opposite direction, she said.
| Where to park
Most of the lots behind the stores on Old Lancaster Pike are interconnected, so even when the street is closed in front of a particular business, the lot behind the store is reachable.
Signs in front of the businesses indicate where to enter the parking lots.
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Flaggers have been instructed to help motorists find their way if drivers roll down their windows when they approach, said Tom McLaughlin, the DelDOT project engineer.
Up the pike, Liz Marden Gourmet Cakes and Desserts has also felt the pain of the streetscape construction, though owner Liz Marden said the landmark bakery is planning to tough it out.
“All of our businesses are in survival mode at this point and we’re hoping we can weather this streetscape,” she said.
The bakery has seen a 50 percent decline in walk in traffic over the past few weeks and its daily 1 p.m. rush, once a fundamental part of business, is now a thing of the past, she said.
But Marden said she’s confident retailers and shoppers alike will benefit from the pedestrian improvements.
Pedestrian improvements seem a long way off, said Chef’s Haven owner Mark Eastman, especially since there’s been no sidewalk in front of his store for a month.
Next door to Liz Marden, Chef’s Haven has seen a 50 percent decline in business since the streetscape project started, he said.
“People are avoiding the whole street because they know what’s going on,” he said. “Even when they’re not working, people are avoiding it.”
It’s frustrating because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the work, he said. For example, the businesses stayed open till 8 p.m. on Dec. 10 as a promotion to draw in customers, Eastman said, but the contractor worked late that night, too, and only one customer visited his store.
Workers are trying to minimize the impact on businesses, but there are challenges to replacing aging infrastructure with new improvements, McLaughlin said.
The first phase of the project, which includes sidewalks on the right side of the pike heading southbound from Valley Road, has been delayed because of utility problems, he said. But contractors have started work on the sidewalks across the street to try and make up time, McLaughlin said,
It may appear that the workers are jumping around the pike, he said, but that typically happens when they hit a utility line and have to relocate to keep working. Being idle costs the state money and will only drag out the project, he said.
DelDOT is planning to install larger signs on Route 41 to indicate that the Old Lancaster Pike businesses are open, McLaughlin said, and he is meeting weekly with business owners and community leaders to keep everyone informed as well as possible.
“We can’t build this thing at night,” he said. “No matter what you do, there’s a little pain for everyone.”
If weather permits, work could move beyond the railroad tracks by mid-January, he said, but that date depends on a lot of factors lining up.
DelDOT is listening to business owners, he said, and anyone is welcome to call the 24-hour line in the field office at 234-1760 to voice concerns.
Community and state leaders are also doing what they can to minimize the construction’s impact, said Sen. Liane Sorenson (R-Hockessin).
Sorenson stepped in and negotiated with DelDOT to stop construction during Thanksgiving weekend so businesses could have a break during their busiest shopping days, she said.
The Hockessin Business Association has also been working to help the Old Lancaster Pike businesses, said Ken Murphy, president of the Hockessin Planning Partnership.
The Old Lancaster Pike retailers have been collaborating on their own parking signage, he said, and have been working on intra-business marketing projects so customers know all the businesses are open.
When the Old Lancaster Pike Streetscape project is done, it’s going to boost business on the pike, he said, and retailers that are proactive now during the toughest time will only see more opportunities as the project moves forward.
