Merchants on the move

Businesses to relocate, expand or close

Advertisement

They say only one thing is constant and that's change, and change is coming in a big way to the historic Old Town district as more than a dozen businesses are either closing, opening, relocating, transferring or expanding during the first quarter of 2007.

Very little is changing on Nevada Way, but there will be plenty of differences on Arizona Street, Hotel Plaza and Wyoming Street.

As a result of all the changes, five buildings of various sizes will be up for sale or lease.

Of the 14 businesses, six are closing, five are relocating and one is shutting down for good.

Beth Woodson, owner of Reclamation, a small boutique store in the Boulder Dam Hotel, ended operations Jan. 31 and is moving back to her home state of Texas.

The five relocating establishments are the Boulder Animal Hospital, Fire and Water Studios, Hartland, Nevada Drug and Charlee's Boutique.

Boulder Animal Hospital will close its offices at 1252 Wyoming St. on Feb. 28 and merge with Randy Stanton's Animal Care Clinic on Nevada Way.

The move allows veterinarians Tucker Barton and Leann Heidke to expand their service hours to weekends and extend their service week to seven days. All nine of its current employees will remain with the clinic, according to the office manager.

As a result, the 1,500-square-foot hospital building is up for sale.

In Hotel Plaza, Hartland Educational Services, located between Periwinkle Cottage and the Chicago Title building, has consolidated into the Mydas Marketing operation on Arizona Street, while Sharon Heher's Fire and Water Studios is moving to Las Vegas. Her 2,400-square-foot building located next to the Dance Etc. studios is being offered for sale at a reported $1 million.

Nevada Drug is closing shop this week after 60 years at its 1220 Arizona St. address. The pharmacy portion of the business has been bought and will be relocated to the Von's store while the compounding portion will remain at its Arizona Street site for the immediate future, said owner Scott Ricci.

The pharmacist also said his 4,250-square-foot building "is on the market for sale or lease."

Charlee's Boutique, located in the Boulder Dam Hotel, lost its lease and also is closing Feb. 28.

The hotel's board of directors voted at its Jan. 25 meeting not to renew Charlene Phillips' lease despite having offered a number of potential leases, which Phillips refused to sign.

"I'm not ready to talk about it," Phillips said when approached for a comment.

However, the hotel manager did talk about it.

"The board made a business decision not to renew her lease," Roger Shoaff said without going into details. "It's the board's philosophy for the hotel to remain economically viable while maintaining the historical importance and significance of the building."

Shoaff conceded that Phillips had always paid her rent on time -- roughly $1 per foot per month for about 340 square feet of space -- adding that there were other issues that played into the board's decision.

With Charlee's Boutique gone, the question is what kind of tenant is the board seeking for the vacated space?

"We want a business that enhances the other shops and adds to the guest's hotel experience," Shoaff said. "It would be nice for them to have a unique product that you can't get at the standard shops, and we want someone who will operate with similar hours as the other shops."

A check of shop hours on the same floor where Charlee's Boutique is located showed the museum, the museum gift shop and the Boulder City Art Guild gallery operate Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., with Hollywood Gems open Sunday through Tuesday from noon to 5 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

By contrast, Charlee's Boutique's hours are listed as closed Sunday through Tuesday and open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Even though the boutique may be closing in the hotel, Phillips has been renting a small retail space in Goatfeathers Emporium since before Christmas, according to manager Cheryl Myers, all of this while lease negotiations were going on between Phillips and the hotel.

While Shoaff looks for a new tenant in the boutique's space, he already has a tenant moving into the old Reclamation site this month.

The store, owned by Anna Maria Davis, is called Regeena's and will offer mostly women's clothing and accessories by local fashion designers.

Also during the first quarter of the year, Wyoming Street businesses are seeing a lot of change.

Myers' son, Jeremy, is working on plans to open a store sometime around the end of April that will offer country gifts and aquariums in the old Christina's gift shop location on the corner of Wyoming Street and Avenue B.

Goatfeathers is winding up its 8,000-square-foot expansion with a grand opening due around the first week in May while remodeling and expansion go on at 1234 Wyoming St. -- the Wellness 2000 and Higley tax consultant business.

Meanwhile, remodeling at 1212 Wyoming St. is finished and the building is awaiting its first tenant.

A plaque outside the 75-year-old building owned by 1212 Wyoming LLC gives a chronology of ownership starting in 1932 when it was the original Central Market location and up through five previous owners, the last being the Boulder Medical Clinic and Home Health Agency from 1991 to 2005.

Grandma Daisy's Ice Cream Parlor and Candy Shop hasn't moved, but it does have a new owner in Judith Strand, who took over in January.

With most of the changes occurring off Nevada Way, there still are a couple of new sites that will be seen on the main drag through town.

Boulder Dam Brewing Co. is planning to open its doors in the Old Town Plaza building located on the corner of Arizona Street and Nevada Way tomorrow after getting its final government approval -- licensure as a manufacturer by the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- last week.

And lastly, Milo Hurst is putting the final touches on his four bed-and-breakfast units above and behind his wine bar.

Known as Milo's Inn at Boulder, he plans to have a sneak preview of the units in April.

Although there are numerous changes, it's sure to make one person happy -- the sign company that prints the directories for the four kiosks that were installed last November.

"We already have 10 corrections that we need to make on the first one," said Jill Lagan, chief executive officer for the Chamber of Commerce, which maintains the kiosks. "We haven't put our order in yet for the changes because we knew there were several more coming."