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.