PRAIRIE GROVE -- With U.S. Highway 62 now bypassing downtown Prairie Grove, city and community leaders are looking for ways to make sure visitors continue to find their way downtown.
Martha Ritchie, owner of Daisies and Olives in downtown Prairie Grove, addressed City Council members last fall with some of her concerns.
"Our customers are not finding us anymore," Ritchie said, noting about 75 percent of her customer base is destination traffic. She said some of her customers are telling her that with the new highway they are not sure where to go to get downtown.
One group of women from Kansas ended up close to Lincoln before figuring out they had missed downtown Prairie Grove, Ritchie said.
Her other concern, she said, is downtown will lose first-time customers as people continue to follow U.S. 62, instead of turning to go through the business district.
She appealed to the City Council for signs to direct traffic to the downtown area.
Thursday, she said she does not want people to think downtown is suffering because of the new highway. She prefers not to even call it a bypass but a truck route.
"People shouldn't have to struggle to find us," Richie said. "From our perspective, we are doing well. Our business is not suffering."
However, she said the city should not wait long before installing signs to help direct traffic to the downtown area.
"The longer we wait, the worse it's going to get downtown. I'm just appealing to you for some guidance."
Dale Reed, president of Prairie Grove Area Chamber of Commerce, has talked about promoting downtown.
"We have a great downtown," Reed said. "On nice days, you can't find a parking spot. We want to keep that and take advantage of
General News on 02/25/2015