RFP Staff
♦A long hot Summer is nearing its end. Salisbury’s Main Street, alleged to be the site of “vibrant” shopping, appears more like the late stages of rigor mortis. It’s only sign of life is an occasional homeless person searching out South Main’s many hidden roosts among the vacant buildings. The remaining shopkeepers on Main are dispirited by the lack of summer shoppers and visitors. Most stores were empty this past Saturday save for a few like Growing Pains and the Stichin’ Post. Even normally crowded eateries like the Sidewalk Deli and Haps are suffering, too, since Panera Bread opened last month on East Innes and drew many lunchtime customers away. While North Main is marked by numerous vacancies, the South Main tenderloin is especially hard hit by vacated buildings. Several area merchants privately told the Rowan Free Press this Summer retail season was among the worst in recent memory. The rapidly growing list of Main Street vacancies attests to what the merchants are saying.
Below is a photo essay of Main Street’s hard times.
Foremz Mini Market is among the latest to close:
Police tape in the former Foremz window display, now partially boarded over with plywood:
The homeless find refuge in this vacant South Main alcove at the former Diana Shop:
Signs in a South Main window:
The former entrance to J.E. Fashions:
The jewels have long vanished from this store front:
Vacant Tastebuds:
No Trespassing guards the doorway to Heaven’s Beauty these days:
