Downtown businesses come and go
MAP
Click here to view an interactive map of business openings and closings in downtown Janesville.
JANESVILLE — Downtown Janesville celebrated more business openings in 2008 than it did the year before, but it also saw an increase in the number of businesses that either closed or moved.
That’s according to the Janesville Design & Development Center, the resource center for the downtown’s economic and aesthetic revitalization.
Overall, 30 business opened in 2008, while 35 closed or moved out of the area, said Christine Moore, the center’s director.
In 2007, 28 businesses opened downtown while 26 closed or moved.
“It’s always disheartening when more businesses close than open, but we’re still seeing a steady stream of people who are interested in locating downtown,” Moore said.
Moore said businesses choose downtown for several reasons, but the primary factors are the existence of similar business that create a cluster effect, the availability of space that meets their needs and the competitive nature of downtown leases.
“They also tend to be people who like the centralized location and want to be a part of a downtown that’s revitalizing and upcoming,” Moore said.
Service-oriented businesses led the list of businesses with 10 openings in 2008. The downtown also welcomed eight new personal care businesses, seven offices and four bars or restaurants.
The eateries included The Circuit and The Music Room, both on North River Street, Cudos on North Main and Corvina’s on East Milwaukee.
One of the vagaries of downtown businesses, however, is that they sometimes open and close in the same year.
The Circuit was an example of an establishment that opened and closed in 2008. Other bars or restaurants that closed included Fusion Five, Karma’s, Expresso Yourself and Quaerna’s.
Other businesses to both open and close or move out of downtown were Treasure Trove and Dana’s Den, both on West Milwaukee Street.
Moore said the personal care and fitness sector continues to be steady downtown. That’s important, she said, because those businesses drive traffic to the downtown area.
The opening of ATW in the One Parker Place building was significant because it brought 40 high-wage jobs downtown, she said.
Crystal Computers, an established Janesville business, opted to move downtown to 51 S. Jackson St.
Moore’s list does not include businesses that moved within the downtown. Prime examples are Forward Janesville and Moore’s own center, which both moved across the street into the new Jackson Square complex. The Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin and attorney Scott Schroeder also moved into the complex from other downtown offices.
Edible Arrangements, which opened at 119 W. Milwaukee St., is most likely the first franchise to open downtown since the arrival of Walgreens in 1994 at Five Points, she said.
Jan 25, 2009 at 7:49 p.m.
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The only reason i go downtown is to the bars
Jan 25, 2009 at 5:40 p.m.
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downtown? where is that!! i thought it was a song
Jan 25, 2009 at 12:24 p.m.
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Wow, unhappyr1, that comes pretty close to business libel there. I wasn't aware this was a "post how much you hate a downtown business (that never did anything to me)" thread.
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janesvillecomments, you're talking about a multi-year trend, not 2008 so much. I think 2008 was a pretty stable year with some markers trending up as well as down, but 2009 may well be difficult. That's the economy, though, and doesn't really speak to downtown. What you talk about is what I called the "bombed out" look many cities have ... achieved. It described Beloit a long time before I would have used it for Janesville.
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The problem is the car culture, where every person (on average) needs a full parking space just to do a small expedition downtown. People will walk a half mile in to a mall, it seems, and more inside, but downtown they demand to be close to the front door. If Court and Milwaukee are converted to two-way it's possible they would get angled parking. The slower traffic and increased car slots is proven to help stabilize downtowns in other cities (however skeptical people on this site may be), especially if parking is metered and thus rationed (instead of being taken up by employees). The main thing that killed downtown was the Interstate pulling retail out to 14/26, but switching to one-ways certainly didn't help (although it was not well understood at the time, so I forgive those involved). I wish we still had a continuous facade down Main Street, but I don't expect one anytime soon.
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In the downtown's heyday we had more people using the bus and before that the trolley (yes, there was a trolley right up Milwaukee). People lived close in, they did a lot more walking, and it was the only retail hub. Just because that is gone, though, does not mean the downtown cannot thrive on other terms, and as I have pointed out before, our downtown has a number of institutions there still including the court house, city hall and police, several banks, and even entertainment and culture venues. Some downtowns don't even have that anymore. Janesville still has some meat on the bone, it's not done yet.
Jan 25, 2009 at 12:04 p.m.
Jan 25, 2009 at 8:39 a.m.
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I am also guilty of not visiting downtown unless I have a specific reason. They should have weekend "block events" were they close off vehicle traffic to the area, and invite people to walk the area. It is really a area that is best walked. It is too busy to pay attention when driving by. The downtown businesses suffered under the double edge sword over the whole "circuit" complaints. They didn't want the kids/young adults hanging around down there, but they wanted them down there to spend money. They got what they wanted. They banned them from being down there, and now they are suffering due to the reduced traffic (monetary and vehicle).
Jan 25, 2009 at 1:13 a.m.
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I think the telling factor is that more buildings are being torn down, than are being built, in downtown Janesville. The parking spaces at Milwaukee & River street used to be at least 4 buildings. The expanded parking for Johnson bank took out several buildings, the building that was next to Quotes, the parking lot at Milwaukee and Jackson, buildings along both sides of Rock River south of Court Street, etc. The new Police Department consumed a few buildings. The building at Parker Drive and Court Street is only the latest in the downtown "deforestation" plan.
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The area can't handle the volume of traffic necessary these days to appeal to retailers depending on drive-by advertising and impulse shopping. Most of the current buildings are too old to remodel to handicapped-accessible standards for shops or residences.
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I don't see economic revitalization occuring downtown, but if they grow the right flowers in the planters between the parking stalls, I'll concede that downtown Janesville can undergo an aesthetic revitalization.
Jan 24, 2009 at 11:36 p.m.
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There are more businesses that opened downtown in 2008 than are listed in this article. Just right next door to Edible Arrangements is Punch Kettlebell Gym. That is another franchise downtown. Punch is a great place to work out if you want to get in shape and lose weight and keep it off.
Jan 24, 2009 at 7:21 p.m.
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ok, shouldn't it either be "businesses come and go," or "business comes and goes?"
otherwise it sounds like the song 'Day O..."
business come and they wanna go home
come mister editor, tally me de grammar
Jan 24, 2009 at 3:34 p.m.
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Gee now that the shameless promotion post is out of the way.. . . . . I think the data is slightly skewed by the fact that so many on the list are hair stylists. Some of these places were actually just one chair rented in a building. Okay, legally they WERE businesses but with the frequency of people coming and going in that industry including them in the list makes the picture a little false at least in my mind.
Jan 24, 2009 at 7:09 a.m.
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The best place to open downtown in the last year, hands down, Codo's Coffee house next Main St bar. Nice, cozy, clean place. The music on Thursdays ROCKS! Everyone should check it out.
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