ROANOKE, Va. – Keith Clinton, co-owner of R.T. Smith’s Deli, has owned his downtown deli with his wife for 15 years. Over that time, he has witnessed many changes in the downtown business scene.
“So there’s a lot of habitually empty storefronts,” Clinton said.
Longtime businesses are retiring and leaving the market, he explained. “The long-term businesses, they’re all retiring, they’re getting out of the game. That’s what a lot of this is from, there’s just no value for somebody coming in to take over a pre-existing business and try to run that because it’s not working anymore.”
Many business owners say foot traffic downtown is not what it once was.
“Lack of visibility... lack of direction... lack of foot traffic... I don’t think anyone’s walked by in the past ten minutes since we’ve been talking,” he said.
The shift to remote and hybrid work since COVID has reduced weekday office workers downtown, impacting foot traffic that businesses depend on.
“You need something to draw people downtown and there’s nothing cohesive right now to bring those people back down, especially the offices,” Clinton said.
Business owners also point to other challenges affecting foot traffic, including parking difficulties, the unhoused population, and the struggles of running a small business in a tough economy.
Businesses in a historic district also face further struggles. Clinton had to take down his sign due to Roanoke’s historic regulations.
Roanoke City Mayor Joe Cobb said many vacant storefronts already have plans for new uses, and the city is working to turn things around.
“There’s a lot of exciting things happening with parking. We just finished a parking study, we had a consultant in, a lot of people responded to the online surveys, so I think we’re in the gathering data phase of that,” Cobb said.
In addition to parking efforts, the city recently created a tourism specialist position to support the local economy.
“I think it will give us some added expertise... really highlighting our small business... that includes retail... that includes restaurants,” Cobb said.
Clinton summed up the challenge: “Getting people downtown is the biggest challenge there is... hey, there goes a person now.”