Roundabout project in Jackson seemed to spark, not hurt, downtown businesses

With traffic on three-fourths of the new roundabout and the city of Jackson announcing an official ribbon-cutting for Friday, Oct. 21, the bulk of the project is done.

And for all the anxiety that roundabout construction would turn uptown Jackson to a ghost town, business owners said those fears have failed to materialize.

"It was pretty smooth," said Lisa Walker, co-owner of High Street Station, an uptown shop. "We didn't know what to expect, because summer can be slow under the best of circumstances, and I think we were all a bit concerned ... but it was better than we thought it would be."

In fact, Walker and others saw a bump in patronage this summer instead of a doldrum.

While several reasons for the outcome were cited by business owners and Bob Schooley, president of the board of directors for the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization, the group's roundabout-specific marketing campaign was regarded widely as helpful.

Christie Harris, owner of Stitched & Stamped, stands Tuesday outside her retail store on East Adams Street in Jackson.Laura Simon

The campaign enlisted more than a dozen uptown businesses to offer special deals between the end of May and the beginning of September. Shoppers who patronized all the businesses were eligible for a raffle which included more than $650 in gift certificates from the participating businesses.

In cooperation with the city, the organization also included signs to help motorists navigate downtown.

"We felt like the Roundabout Rewards [initiative] was very successful," Walker said. "It was a kind of incentive for people to still come uptown throughout the construction."

So much so that statewide not-for-profit Missouri Main Street Connection named it the best of the year in August.

"We wanted to maintain the foot traffic. We wanted to maintain the consumers coming to uptown businesses," Schooley said. "We didn't see any decreases at all. Our goal was to stay the same, but it went so well that there was a continued and improved interest, and new businesses looked to start up. That probably would have happened anyway, but that says something, I think."

The Cape Girardeau County Courthouse sits at the end of High Street in Jackson as seen Monday.Laura Simon

One of the new business owners was Christie Harris, who opened her embroidery shop Stitched and Stamped in August off the uptown area's main drag.

"Part of my theory was that the construction traffic would be diverted down [West] Adams Street," she said. "So if they were backed up along there, we might get more traffic."

Harris said it's worked so well, she said she wonders what will happen when the detour is gone.

"It will be interesting to see if it changes traffic," she said. "But hopefully by that point, the word-of-mouth will be there."

Harris moved to Jackson from St. Louis, and said she's been more than impressed by the character of area shoppers.

"I've definitely felt a lot of loyalty from local people," she said, "and other businesses, too."

The good summer, Schooley said, was, "really a testament to our citizens and our businesses and our organization."

He said growth is part of an overall positive trend in uptown, which the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization intends to encourage. Now that they know a marketing campaign can work, they are considering opportunities to do it again.

They are set to take over landscaping around the roundabout as soon as it's completed, there is more parking for uptown shoppers, and last weekend's Oktoberfest was the largest on record, he said.

Walker and her sister Lynette Strange have run High Street Station for a dozen years. Walker said now especially is a good time to be a business owner in uptown Jackson.

"I think it's going to get even better," she said. "I see good things on the horizon for uptown Jackson."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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