This year, Clayton's farmers' market moved from their previous location on the Straub's parking lot to smack in the middle of downtown on Central Avenue. The board of aldermen believed this area would help to give downtown more vibrancy and benefit businesses with the increased foot traffic.
However, many of the business owners along Central are unhappy with the situation, saying they have lost business because customers have avoided that block. There is also a big difference in how the market attendance numbers are seen. Business owners claim only around 50 people come to the market while the city claims 500 or the future possibility of 500.
One issue this year has been rain on the first 3 weeks of the season which not only didn't help the numbers but keeping people away prevented the new location from being on most radars. In addition, it's hard to find parking in downtown Clayton most anytime of the day or evening. There is not a whole lot of retail there but there are many restaurants. On that particular block of Central, I can think of 2 cigar stores and Jennifer's Pharmacy (a very cool place with fun stuff to buy and an old school soda fountain). Most of the rest are eating places.
I guess we'll see how the rest of the summer goes, but it's always interesting to see how cities try to balance one entity with another.
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