ECONOMY
BOUNCING BACK
The former post office on Orange Avenue has undergone a four-year, $500,000 renovation at the hands of owners Stan and Jean Synkoski. The building
opened in 1935 as part of a wave of new public buildings ushered in under Roosevelt’s New Deal program.
8
GREGORY ENNS
Downtown merchants’ outlook bright
despite pandemic challenges
BY ANTHONY WESTBURY
In a year in which the region has been battered by not one
but three variants of the coronavirus, it is comforting to
hear about the resilience of local merchants in the face of
challenges to their livelihoods.
In fact, many downtown Fort Pierce business owners remain
profitable and are looking forward to better times ahead.
Doris Tillman, executive director of Main Street Fort Pierce,
is more confident downtown can bounce back from adversity
than ever before.
She credits that to a new generation of entrepreneurs who
she says are more ambitious and motivated to try new ideas
than perhaps their forebears ever were.
Tillman pointed to several new businesses downtown that
opened in the past 12 months, including women’s clothing
boutique Honey and Co. and the popular Cuban restaurant,
Havana George Café, both in the Galleria complex at 100 S.
Second St. Tillman noted that very few businesses downtown
have failed in the past year.
“I think downtown is working well together,” Tillman said.
“After 30 years downtown, I’m so pleased to see so many
people involved in being here and boosting their businesses.
I’m also so impressed with the Downtown Business Alliance.
They are so hardworking and positive. I think downtown’s
future looks very bright.”
Someone who agrees wholeheartedly with Tillman is an
active DBA member and owner of the vintage and coastal gift
store Chic & Shore Things at 205 N. Second St. Becky Demanuel
has been in business there for eight years.
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