Beverly downtown staying strong

By KATHLEEN McLAUGHLIN

BEVERLY _ Downtown merchants agree that their business remains strong after watching Super Stop and Shop take its place near an entrance to the city four years ago.

Local grocery store owners and a chief advocate of downtown, Don Preston, lobbied against commercial zoning that allowed the supermarket to build on former United Shoe Machinery land on Elliott Street.

Preston, who owns the gift shop Casa de Moda, said he hasn't lost any business since Stop and Shop opened, but he's still worried about his neighbors, with whom he shares foot traffic.

Beverly and neighboring towns have seen Stop and Shop and Walgreens expand in competition with other chains, he said. Citizens won an "awful lot" of concessions from Stop and Shop, including intersection work to mitigate traffic and sign restrictions, he said, but he wants to be prepared for a continuous wave of such invasions.

"We're part of a plan," he said, "And that's all we are." Instead of bowing to national store identities, he said cities have to force companies to respect the community's identity.

Taking an even broader view, however, Preston's neighbor on Cabot Street Richard Darrah said the Stop and Shop and other giant stores will fade in 15 or 20 years, making way for more lasting development.

"I think the Stop and Shop thing was the best thing that ever came along," Darrah said. "It took a dump and transformed it." Darrah owns Brown's of Beverly bicycle shop, which his father started.

Darrah claims he wouldn't have worried, even if the new neighbor had been Target or Wal-Mart. "I look at the big boxes and say, `They're only temporary.' The most valuable part of most of today's new construction is the parking lot."

He said his strategy is to "just keep hanging on and doing a good job."

Having seen businesses come and go, he said he's often surprised at who thrives or fades. "It's like gardening."

When downtowns are in grave danger, however, the national Main Streets program, recently adopted in Salem, has a strategy. "This is something that's been happening in American retail for 40 years now," Salem Partnership Executive Director Rosemary Powers said.

The department stores weren't poised for suburban malls, she said. In other cases, copy-cat stores pile up, she said. The downtown revitalization strategy is like that of mall management, she said.

"It has to be a full entertainment experience, almost," Powers said. "That's what Beverly has done as well. They've filled downtown with an interesting mix of stores."

Although Preston's business is like the niche-fillers that crop up in revitalized downtowns, he doesn't want to see Beverly lose its ability to provide essential services to people who live nearby.

The Main Streets program is for those who need a re-birth, Preston said. Gallery-oriented downtowns are viable, too, he said, but the ideal is a mix of unique experience and everyday business.

Preston and Cabot Street florist David Barter both said Bell Market is key to that mix. "Basically, I was afraid for the small, independent grocery store right down the street," Barter said.

Somehow though, Barter said business is thriving. He said he focuses on top quality and service. Judging from Bell's continued presence, he imagines the owners have the same approach. "Neighbors and professionals and people who work down here have stayed loyal."