Elgin’s changing downtown has core of continuity

The club of downtown Elgin businesses that have survived the booms and busts of the last few decades is getting smaller. But the owners who can boast 30, 40 and even more than 50 years of service are certainly present and planning to stay.

Jerry Newman bought Central Barbershop when he was barely 21 years old. He put in his 1,872 hours at barber school and finished his 27-month apprenticeship before the original owner of Central Barbershop was ready to sell. When the opportunity came along he took it — and has been working in downtown Elgin ever since.

“I just keep going — another year, another year, another year,” said Newman, who is now 70. “I’ve seen it go down, I’ve seen it get better, I’ve seen them try a lot of things.”

He has also seen a lot of businesses come and go. Super Print opened as a printing shop in 1972 but switched names in 1982 before closing four weeks ago. For decades Newman could walk next door to the printer if he needed something faxed or copied, taking advantage of the convenient services while patronizing a fellow downtown business.

Dave Andersen, the second-generation owner of Andersen’s Engraving, similarly mourns the loss of Super Print, pointing to the Internet and computer business as the culprit. Just like the Internet has given Andersen more competition for customers, he said, home and office computers have hurt the quick print business.

Andersen’s father opened his store in 1961 as a gift shop, leaving his son to grow and change with the demands of the community. Andersen and his wife, Dawn, make wedding invitations, engrave trophies and plaques and customize class rings. A photo album business he started before taking over his father’s has faded away since digital photography came on the scene.

“You don’t know how things are going to turn,” Andersen said. “You just have to keep on trying things. Something’s going to hit.”

At Ziegler’s Ace Hardware store, the shift over the years has been in the mix of merchandise more than the types of services. David Ziegler, vice president of the local chain of nine stores, said his grandfather would barely recognize what they have in stock today. New brands that the store couldn’t get 80 years ago are mainstays on the shelves, and the third-generation management has stopped stocking toys and gifts as other big-box stores have taken over that market.

All the longtime businesses point to periods of growth and times when they needed to scale back. Ziegler said his business is again looking at expansion after the worst of the recession.

Andersen, too, said business is better than it was a few years ago when Elgin street projects compounded the effects of the down economy on his customer base. For him, things are looking up.

“When business is slow, it’s really hard to be in business, but when there’s customers coming in, it’s really fun,” Anderson said.

Soon new businesses will take the places of those that have closed, changing the landscape of the city once again — but a shrinking group of business owners hope downtown can sustain at least a bit of continuity.