New tenants filling two St. Charles' storefronts

It's no secret our downtowns took a hit during the economic downturn of the past five to six years, leaving an array of empty storefronts. Many of those remain vacant.

St. Charles has more than its share of empty retail and commercial spots to fill in the coming years, but West Main Street has a new tenant with another on the way.

The Bend General Store at 320 W. Main St., which opened Oct. 30, offers customers an array of deli meats, cheeses and wine.

It should be an interesting addition to the city's business offerings.

Right next to it, pet groomer "Clean as a Whisker" will be opening soon. It gives the city a start on getting Main Street storefronts filled.

Maybe next in line would be the former Colson's and Vertical Drop location, a key spot at 116 W. Main at North Second Street.

A different look

After years of Buds and other sports bars anchoring the retail strip along Randall Road at Prairie Street in St. Charles, it is odd to look at that spot and now see a dry cleaner.

Even though I enjoyed watching Chicago sports events at those bars on occasion, the truth is, maybe the CD One Price dry cleaners will prove to be the best use of that location.

The former sports bar venue has been divided into two spaces, with the dry cleaners now being one.

Wish for Gilles

The 7-Eleven gas mart and Firestone auto center are definitely solid businesses to anchor the corner of Randall Road and West Main in St. Charles.

But I can't help wishing the Gilles frozen custard shop that sat there years ago was still around. If not, I'd even take its predecessor, Dog 'n Suds.

To this day, I haven't had a frozen treat more delicious than Gilles custard and graham cracker crust covered in wonderful chocolate.

For those unaware, I'm talking about places that probably have been gone for about 30 years now.

Lamenting scarecrows

It appears I wasn't the only one who felt something was amiss with the Scarecrow Festival in St. Charles this year. A couple of readers were quick to send me notes, saying they agreed with my assessment that the event has lost a bit of its local feel.

"You are spot-on and not a fuddy dud," one reader said.

He added the fest was much better when all the displays were in Lincoln Park, but so much space is now given to those who pay a fee to have a sales booth.

Another said she felt there was a lack of entries this season, and that it was hard to tell where all of the scarecrows were. For example, her note was the first to inform me that more scarecrows were on display in the former VFW site parking lot. I had no idea.

She also liked the idea that maybe a local restaurant flavor-fare type of setup would be far better than the numerous carnival food offerings.

Another suggestion was for a "haunted hike" through Mount St. Mary Park during the festival or in one of any number of empty downtown storefronts.

Let me finish this by saying the committees and volunteers who put this festival together work hard year-round. These comments and ideas are forwarded with the realization that this festival's reputation has set the bar very high. Thus, when it doesn't seem quite right, other ideas pop up.

Not best planning

When TriCity Family Services established its Snowflake Shuffle during the first weekend in December six years ago, it was one of those rare winter-season running events being offered in the area.

It has since become an important fundraiser for the agency held at Mill Creek each year. Now we see that another running event, the St. Charles 12K of Christmas, operated through Multi-Sport Madness, is taking place in St. Charles on the same day - Dec. 6 - at about the same time.

It's rarely good for a charitable event to have to compete against another running event for support. It seems even crazier that it is happening for a winter running event.

At least Multi-Sport Madness is saying it would help offset any loss the Snowflake Shuffle may absorb because of the conflict.

Not on trees

Money doesn't grow on trees, but it does help trees grow. Geneva's downtown tree plantings got another boost last month from the city's natural resources committee, which donated $10,000 for 25 trees that city crews will plant along and near State Street.

The NRC has raised money to donate through its two key events - Rain Barrels on Parade, and Wine, Cheese and Trees.

dheun@sbcglobal.net