The recently-announced closing of Downtown Deli comes as a sad blow to the downtown square and will leave an empty space on the corner next to Starbucks.
Causation is hard to prove, but the correlation won't be missed. The community will undoubtedly view this as an indication that Starbucks, predicted to spark business, has had the opposite effect. In the big picture of town-gown relationships, the timing stinks.
Lynda Dunbar, owner of the Deli, has multiple reasons for shutting down the diner such as rising food prices and less customers, but points to problems that began in the summer 2012 with a slump in business that coincided with the construction of Starbucks. It's important to note that historically, Greencastle restaurants are prone to bow out after a few years of operation.
Dunbar is a busy woman. She works as Greencastle's Clerk-Treasurer in tandem to running the Deli; splitting time between a demanding public position and a café can't easy to balance. With the business in a rough spot, perhaps, closure was her best choice.
So what's going to happen to the empty space with supposedly a golden spot opening up right next door to the most popular stop on the square? Who's going to be the next company or small business owners willing to take a gamble on Greencastle?
We can only wait and see and hope others don't follow suit. The Blue Door has already shortened its hours (but returned them), and the manager has expressed serious strain on business from Starbucks.
We hope this is the only restaurant to fall in the wake of Starbucks, and that the original forecast for a positive impact on Greencastle will start to take place in noticeable developments in the square. The building of a parking garage on the square holds the expectation of more traffic.
Hopefully, the restaurants and businesses on the square will see more circulation of costumers, instead of watching students line up at the cash register of Starbucks.