Merchants seek boost for business

Main Street shops are looking for customers.

By: Matt Kirdahy
   Downtown businesses in Cranbury are faced with a perennial problem — finding customers.
   Local business owners agree that more shoppers need to come into town to maintain commercial viability, but getting them here is the hard part.
   "There are fewer business now than there have been in town in a while," owner of Main Street Interiors Beth Brennan said.
   Some owners say that more restaurants, improved parking and even some township advertising could bolster the popularity of the downtown and even serve to attract a wider variety of shops into the area.
   Ms. Brennan has been in business in Cranbury since 1990. Her success, she says, can be attributed to having a good relationships with clients.
   "That’s the type of business I have," Ms. Brennan said. "The customer base develops the business. It’s about forming a strong relationship, and when they come to me, I provide them with what they want."
   Ms. Brennan said one way to bring in new customers would be to make the already quaint village more attractive to customers by more planting trees, flowers and shrubs along Main Street.
   "That would be a good idea," Ms. Brennan said. "In the past, the beautification seems to be focused on the parks and around the lake area. That would be a great step to try and bring more business into the downtown area."
   Other business owners said restaurants and a wider variety of shopping would draw more customers into the area and create the traffic needed to keep existing businesses successful.
   Linda Harding, owner of Village Hair Cutters at 43 N. Main St., said existing restaurants such as Cranbury Pizza, Teddy’s Restaurant, the Cranbury Inn and the Corner Café Gourmet & Catering are a major reason business is as successful as it currently is.
   "That is the best business to revitalize town," Ms. Harding said. "You can’t have enough of them. It works in all towns."
   However, Phyllis Davison, owner of the Dandeline Shop at 60 N. Main St., said downtown eateries may help neighboring stores, but only between noon and 2 p.m., as business owners say those are the most popular dining hours.
   "We need to advertise something like, ‘These are the reasons you should come to Cranbury,’ " said Ms. Davison. "But we do need something to bring them here."
   Her son, John Davison, co-owns Corner Café Gourmet & Catering. He said more retail business could bring a new crowd that might stay for extended periods of time and then maybe boost local business.
   "There’s not a lot of retail business, so people don’t park and make a day of it," Mr. Davison said.
   Co-owner of Cranbury Pizza Ralph Avallone said it’s crucial to the survival of the business district that people who live outside of Cranbury visit and want to keep coming back.
   "We need more stores to do that," Mr. Avallone said. "We need some kind of attraction. People know Cranbury as a quaint and beautiful town, and the big thing is to just keep people coming back."
   Mr. Avallone and business partner Ed Palma opened Cranbury Pizza three and a half years ago and say the business has done well since. Their pizza restaurant is one of the younger businesses in town where Teddy’s has been the cornerstone for food and conversation for 30 years.
   Owner Teddy Nikitiades said something needs to come to town to lure in more consumers, "But what?" he asked.
   While business owners differ on what to do about attracting new customers, all agree that solid customer relationships and hard work make for a good business.
   "Good food and good will will always be an attraction," Mayor Pari Stave said about keeping the commercial area in the village strong. "It’s about the kind of relationship you have with business owners who are very much loved in the community. At the end of the day, it gets down to the customer relationship."
   Mayor Stave said it’s also important that local shoppers to put their money into the area businesses.
   "I think residents should be mindful of buying local," Mayor Stave said. "It is important to the vitality to the community."
   Owner of Pat’s Décor Pat Bielat at 50 N. Main St. said the village area simply needs to hit a growth spurt.
   "We need to find a way to increase the size of the business district and get more in town," Ms. Bielat said. "People don’t come into town because there aren’t enough stores in town."
   Some store owners also say that parking has not been as big an issue as it has in the past because there hasn’t been enough "stop-and-shop" customers recently, said Mr. Davison.
   However, Rocco D’Armiento, owner of Cranbury Paint and Hardware, said his customers complain about a lack of parking all the time.
   "It’s been going on for years," said Mr. D’Armiento.
   The township received permission from the PNC Bank on North Main Street in June of 1999 for the use of 10 to 12 of its parking spaces. An agreement with PNC that allowed the township to use 12 parking spaces for public parking was approved by the township in September of 2001.
   Mayor Stave said it has become a priority of the committee to look into providing more parking for the downtown store and restaurant patrons.
   "The committee is going to put that back on track when it takes a look at the traffic circulation in town," Mayor Stave said. "That would have an impact on the downtown business."