Downtown tries to weather the recession

By Layla Wilder
The Clarke Courier

BERRYVILLE — Anyone who has been around for awhile will tell you that dowtown Berryville has had its share of boom and bust cycles.

This latest cycle has been a bust for numerous businesses, including the The Clarke Courier, which ceases publication today.

In many ways, The Courier’s struggle to survive the recession and changing times mirrors the struggle of Main Street over the years.

Incorporated in 1871, Berryville was once a bustling town. In the early 1900s, it had a grocery store, multiple drug stores, a blacksmith shop, and a lumber yard. There was even an apple evaporator company, where dried apples were made, according to local historians.

“We used to have about three times as many businesses in Berryville as we have now,” said 82-year-old Eddie Wisecarver, who owned and operated Wisecarver’s Gent’s Shop until it closed in 1971 after 49 years of business.

Even though the town struggled during the Great Depression and World Wars, it bounced back.

In the 1950s, “it was quite a bustling town,” remembers Louise Sponseller, whose family has run Sponseller’s Flower Shop on Main Street for decades. She said “everyone” went to shop in town on Saturdays.

Within the past year, the Gold Leaf gift shop closed, The Daily Grind and Berryville News Stand closed, Berryville Graphics laid off 70 workers, and American Woodmark Corp. announced that it was closing its Berryville plant. Downtown now has more than 11,000 square feet of empty space.

Some people, especially longtime merchants, blame the erosion of the town’s business district on chain stores in neighboring jurisdictions.

J. Fred Jones, owner of the Blue Ridge Insurance Agency for several decades, said big box stores in Winchester, coupled with having to pay town and county taxes, made it difficult to do businesses in Berryville. Jones, 84, closed his insurance business in 1987 after 34 years.

But “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” said Berryville Town Councilman H. Allen Kitselman III as he reflected on the recent struggles of Berryville’s Main Street. Kitselman is a partner in Main Street Architecture, a Berryville-based architecture firm.

And signs of life are starting to spring up along Main Street.

On May 16, the Berryville News Stand reopened under new ownership. Earlier this year, Gold Leaf found a more affordable space along Main Street.

“Newer businesses are opening back up,” Berryville Town Councilman Jay Arnold said. “That is a good sign that things are turning around.” Arnold, who owns Berryville Auto Parts and Radio Shack on Main Street, recently began offering UPS Shipping. He said Berryville business owners have been trying to improve customer service and lower prices.

“As the economy comes back, things will come back in,” said Rick Sponseller, owner of Sponseller’s Flower Shop and mayor of Berryville for more than 20 years. Sponseller says his business is starting to improve. “It’s just a matter of weathering the storm. I have no reason to think that things won’t recover nicely, and when it does, Berryville will fill back up.”

Several efforts are under way to jumpstart the local economy. The Clarke County Board of Supervisors is considering a recommendation from its Economic Development Advisory Committee to hire a professional economic consultant, and a new community Web site is under construction.

Kitselman and Town Planner Christy Dunkle have also initiated a series of summit meetings to generate ideas in the business community on how to improve the local economy.

“It’s the worst economic thing I’ve ever endured, but it may be an opportunity to lash our lifeboats together and figure out how to make Clarke County a destination,” Kitselman said.

Some people are trying new ventures.

Chauncey “Buddy” Craig charges businesses 5 cents for every advertising flier he distributes door-to-door.

Craig started distributing fliers for Sweet Pea’s, a second-hand children’s store owned by his wife Sherry Craig. Since then, the project has grown to include other businesses. Her husband’s efforts have drummed up new business for several merchants, Sherry Craig reports.

“I think we all have to be innovative like that,” Arnold said of Craig’s efforts.

So, even as The Courier bids goodbye to Berryville, the town still seems to have plenty of fight left in it.