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Community gets ahead by sticking to ‘brand'
east palestine
East Palestine is adding businesses by sticking to its brand and using spaces that haven’t been available for decades.
The area focuses on its cache of buildings in its downtown that were built in the 1800s, said Don Elzer, president of the East Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce. In the past few months, more than eight business have opened downtown.
“Other areas were looking to recreate these types of buildings, and we already had them,” he said.
When the Chamber became active again after 12 years of being inactive, it helped start the process of cleaning up a lot of those buildings that hadn’t been used in years, Elzer said.
Brenna Davis, owner of Serendipity, put her shops in one of those historic buildings at the Shops on Main. Her store along with a few others is in a former hotel, brothel, gambling house and bar.
“I looked at some other locations, but the history is what sold me on the store,” she said.
The small shops in the town are becoming more popular because people want to shop locally. There are visitors coming to East Palestine on the weekends, Davis said. The growing number of local shops also mean residents don’t have to drive to Boardman every time they want to pick up a gift.
“We’re not going to compete with Walmart or Home Depot, but if you need a special item for your home, we’ve got a lot of boutique stores,” Elzer said.
A couple opened The Coffee Stop a few months ago after previously operating a seafood buffet in Branson, Mo. For Dianna McMannus, it was a chance to return home to East Palestine, where she grew up.
“We wanted a place where teens in the community could come and hang out,” said Rodney McMannus.
Business started robustly when the shop opened in the middle of the city’s street fair, but has settled into something more consistent, but growing, said Dianna McMannus.
Joe Jurasko, owner of J&D’s Hometown Grill & Bakery, said he bought his space shortly after learning the previous owner wanted to sell. It is across Market Street from his discount grocery store.
The restaurant serves as a hangout for a lot of the local seniors and has a lot of regulars, he said.
Most of the people opening businesses have ties to the community based on either proximity or history, but they all seem to believe that providing people more options will draw more customers to the burgeoning downtown shopping district.
The downtown isn’t the only area in which the local business community is looking to expand. There are new opportunities coming to the area because of the shale industry.
“We’re in talks to add a hotel in East Palestine,” Elzer said.
The focus of the chamber is not to try and recruit businesses related to shale, but the peripheral businesses that spring up because of increased economic activity, he said.
In addition to the hotel, there is another person working to add a steak house to the city, Elzer said.
The next step for the city is to increase the number of businesses that produce jobs, said Peter Monteleone, village manager. The village council has focused on creating business and thus far the development has focused on retail downtown. “I think we’ll have something to announce in the next year that will make people happy,” he said.
The city needs to annex more land so there is the ability to add industrial space, Elzer said.