New streets and sidewalks coming at a cost for Downtown Concord business owners

CONCORD, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Several business owners in Downtown Concord told us two years into the project to update streets and sidewalks, their shops and restaurants are struggling.

Union Street has seen a lot of change in the past couple of years, partly because of the streetscape project and partly because several businesses that once occupied buildings are no longer there.

“I can’t even count the businesses that have disappeared since this started,” said Edney Holder, who owns The Enchanted Kitchen on Union Street. “They can’t make it.”

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People who work in Downtown Concord have gotten used to seeing orange cones, yellow caution tape and construction crews.

“This is killing us,” said Holder.

Since construction started outside Holder’s business two years ago, he’s had trouble getting customers through his doors.

“People don’t want to come downtown anymore,” he said. “I’ve lost a little over $200,000 in sales since they started the streetscape.”

Holder has been lucky. He’s stayed open through the losses but did have to make some changes.

“I couldn’t afford to pay employees, so for a while, we went down to like two days a week,” he said.

Others haven’t been as lucky. Signs reading “for rent,” “closed” and “property available” hang in windows along the street.

“When we closed, we really didn’t have a plan,” said Beth Huss, co-owner of Cabarrus Creamery.

After 21 years of running Cabarrus Creamery, Huss and her husband shut their doors in November of 2023 .

“It’s been really hard because there were just so many streets around us, closed too,” she said. “It wasn’t just the street in front of our business, so it was hard for people to navigate the downtown area at all.”

This October, Huss will start scooping ice cream again, even though it’s not clear when this construction will end. City leaders said crews were supposed to finish work on September 22, but delays have put them behind.

“It is going to be different,” said Huss. “We’ve lost a restaurant, two restaurants, a winery, a nutrition place, so it’s going to be a little different.”

Concord officials said they’re doing their best to get the normal fall activities back in downtown so the now-empty streets will be full of people.

“As long as the people come and we get new businesses thriving down here, it will be great,” said Huss.

City leaders told us they know the construction has been challenging for businesses, but the best thing the community can do is show up and support the local shops.

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