Still open for business

• By CHAD CALDER
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Jun 21, 2009

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As the temporary closure of the Perkins Road overpass enters its third month, merchants say the $3 million rehabilitation project is affecting them to varying degrees.

For some, the drop in vehicle traffic is cutting into sales significantly. For others, it’s not as bad as they feared. Some say customers from the other side of the bridge don’t come as often, though many say loyal customers have made it a point to go out of their way.

Destination stores haven’t been hurt as much as those that rely on walk-in or drive-by traffic.

But they all agree on one thing: They can’t wait for it to be over.

“We got a phone call today asking if we’re still open,” said Chelsea’s Café owner David Remmeter, who arguably has it worse than anyone. His restaurant and nightclub sits under the overpass and the entrance is now blocked by a chain-link fence and shrouded by a green tarp. This leaves only a small doorway — next to a telephone pole, of course — that is easily obscured by parked cars.

Remmeter said he talked to his mother on the phone the other day and was told she planned to come by for lunch. She went somewhere else because parking is much tougher to come by these days.

“She eats for free here,” Remmeter said. “My mom would rather buy food someplace else than come try to find parking … ”

Such is life in the summer of 2009 under and around the 72-year-old overpass, the area’s anchor and its namesake. Before work began on March 24, 15,000 vehicles a day crossed over the railroad tracks below.

Things are much quieter, particularly on the north side.

Perks Coffee & Tea illustrates the intricacies of what a road project can tell a business about its customers.

Manager David Welsh said Perks’ bottom line has been unaffected, even though mornings are slower because of the loss of commuter traffic.

The street’s quieter atmosphere on afternoons and evenings, it seems, may actually be helping.

In particular, “the people who live on the west side of the bridge … they’re coming here from that area because there is not as much traffic, so the day has picked up even though the morning has slacked off.”