Business, Community, Life

It is obvious that many of Clyde’s downtown buildings are empty. Some seem to be completely abandoned, while others are taken care of, but still not filled with a business. Some of the empty storefronts actually have full apartments upstairs, so the buildings are not completely empty.

In this article, I want to explore why a storefront in Clyde might remain empty for years.

First, let’s explore why anyone would want to own a building that just sits uninhabited. The reason anyone owns real estate is to make money. Some buy a building with hopes of filling it with tenants. Others are hoping to do some work on it and turn around and resell it for a profit. A few will buy a building with dreams of putting their own business in it.

The first two types of buyers are not necessarily motivated to fill the storefront with a business. They are by no means against it, but it is likely not priority number one. In Clyde, we allow apartments above the ground level in our downtown buildings. This is a good thing, because without the apartment income, there would be very little incentive to buy a downtown building. However, this can become a double-edged sword, because if a landlord is getting enough apartment income to at least break even, they can become satisfied to just sit on the building and not proactively look for a storefront tenant.

The third type of buyer would be highly motivated to fill the storefront, since it would be with their own business. Unfortunately, a downtown in general and Clyde specifically does not provide the kind of customer traffic that would encourage many businesses to take a risk to buy a downtown building. It is far safer to lease and see what happens.

So what does happen when a business leases a Clyde storefront? It is easy to tell a sad story. We have all seen stores come and go. We are all weighed down with the opinion that a business cannot make it in Clyde. That is simply untrue. There are many businesses that have been in Clyde for years, some for generations. The fact is that a business can make it in downtown Clyde. Of course, some businesses are better suited for it than others.

There are a lot of things going against downtown Clyde in terms of getting businesses in. The fact that we don’t bring a large number of people is obviously a big one. Taxes in New York are another. I would add that some building owners are just not highly motivated to get a store in, while the ones who are have to struggle against all the things that keep businesses out of Clyde.

I have been encouraged to see improvements being made to our buildings over the recent years. I know the Chamber of Commerce is playing a vital role in helping building owners spruce up their buildings. This is an important first step. In some ways, if we can look the part of an active, vibrant downtown, we can start to act the part as well. But it is not enough to just have the building look nice.

While an owner may be able to break even or even make a few bucks with some apartments, they would do even better with a business tenant downstairs as well. All of Clyde would be better for it. But of course, we cannot just snap our fingers and have businesses come to Clyde. There is no natural pull. We are not a tourist town, though we do get tourists. We aren’t known for anything, like antiques or some great historical event. We are just another village, though we have a lot more going for us than some give us credit for.

I think that this lack of focus, lack of a natural pull is one of the biggest roadblocks to our buildings being full. In order to bring businesses in to Clyde, we need to provide the proper incentives and atmosphere. Without a good reason to come to Clyde, many of our storefronts will continue to sit empty, as they do in villages all around us.

Yet, perhaps if we can come together we can change the rules. Maybe we can work together and put Clyde on the map for something. In the next few blog posts, I am going to outline some of my ideas for what Clyde can become known for in the coming years. Please feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section.