Pottstown saw a biz boom in 2019
POTTSTOWN >> It got increasingly harder to keep track of the number of new businesses that opened in the borough in 2019 which, as Peggy Lee-Clark sees it, is a nice problem to have.
Sitting down to put together a list of them all proved a challenge.
“I’m always afraid I’m going to leave someone out,” she said, noting that during a recent podcast, she did, “and I heard about it.”So recognizing that it’s hard to be comprehensive about such things, it’s not hard to come up with at least 30. And that’s not even counting businesses that moved into the borough, or those that renovated their buildings.
“I’ve really felt it for two years now,” said Lee-Clark, who is the executive director of Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., better known as PAID, a unique non-profit that is the chief economic development arm of the borough.
“I have the bird’s-eye view, talking to the all the potential investors and business people, so I know what’s on the horizon, and it’s pretty exciting,” said Lee-Clark.
Some of the investors in borough businesses felt the same way.
Consider the case of Steve Everett, Dan Glennon and Chuck Harders, who came to Pottstown from Delaware County in 2018 with a concept for the Red Horse Motoring Club.
“We showed them the Humphries Flag building, they started talking to us and little by little they got more interested,” Lee-Clark said. “They started to realize there is easy access to Route 422, we have beautiful buildings downtown and they got more and more interested.”
So interested, they purchased the former Ellis Mills department store on High Street and transformed the second floor into Splitting Edge Ax Throwing, which opened to the public in February.
The trio also purchased the building across the street and opened an ice cream shop, now known as Rivsters, which also opened this year.
They are also now the owners of the former New York Plaza at 238 High St. in which they are hosting two other businesses which opened in 2019 — the Little Gym of Pottstown, an activity center for children; as well as Montasano Soup Cafe.
This month, the partners opened a brew pub, J.J. Rattigan’s at street level in the Ellis Mills building and “they’re not done,” Lee-Clark said. “They’re renovating the basement as a game room. It will be like The Alley, but indoors.
“The Alley,” is another popular business that opened, a kind of out-door picnic space in the middle of downtown High Street.
The Alley on High Street, which is so successful it is about to be duplicated one block away, with another outdoor venue opening in a vacant High Street lot, is an off-shoot of another business finding success in Pottstown — Kiki’s vodka bar.
It is one of 11 new businesses at work in the High Street Terminal, once known as the Pottstown Farmer’s Market at High and South Charlotte streets.
Also located within those walls is Aye Caramba Tacos, Dani Bee Funky gift shop, Buttercup Boutigue gift shop, Flavor’s Cafe Deli, Honey’s Homebrewed
Cafe, Barrister’s Bagels, Seed and Soil vegan eatery, La’s gluten free eatery, High Street Steaks and T-Squared and Co.
Coming soon is Kang’s Sushi, Lee-Clark added.
Just down the street is a res
“I can’t say enough about these people who are investing their time and treasure in Pottstown. These are not big developers, but they believe in the town and they are all in.”.”
— Peggy Lee-Clark PAID executive director
taurant that is both familiar and new at the same time — The Very Best Hot Dogs.
A landmark since 1921, it was sold to Amy Shuster and Joe Miller, who were unable to keep the shop going in the midst of the 2009 recession.
It was purchased and rehabilitated by Gilbertsville native Josh Souders, who re-opened the restaurant in September.
He ran out of hot dogs when he first opened.
Another restaurant that created a lot of buzz was The Blue Elephant, an Asian fusion restaurant that opened up in the high-profile space at the corner of High and South Hanover streets, once occupied by The Brick House.
The building, which also houses the Pottstown Area Heath and Wellness Foundation and the TriCounty Chamber of Commerce, is owned by Win and Sutida Somboonsong. Their company — Win Signature Restaurants — includes four restaurants on the Main Line.
The interior was designed by their daughter Pearl, who is the director of development for the company, and it opened to great acclaim.
“Everyone kept asking me, ‘when is the Blue Elephant
going to open?’” Lee-Clark said with a laugh.
But the excitement around that opening and The Very Best in the same month elicited a caution that people should not see one business or another opening as a sign of ultimate success or failure.
Business is affected by a number of factors — insurance, timing, supply, workforce, transportation, marketing — and some will succeed and some will fail, she said.
A better indication of Pottstown’s improving business climate, she said, is the fact that “if you look at our website, most of our inventory is leasing, we have fewer properties available for sale.”
That’s because investors now see commercial real estate in Pottstown as a better value, she said.
And people are investing in that real estate, Lee-Clark said, pointing to the renovations being made to the Pottstown Roller Mills building off South Street. “They’re going to put a retail use in there on the first floor,” she said.
Investors have also purchased the “Oddfellows” building in the 300 block of High Street, where Strand Shoes used to be located.
Across the street, the former Eagles Club building at 310 High St., not only has the “Smashville” badminton facility, but the Psychedelic Shindig, an immersive art experience, has opened on the first floor.
The building that houses the Jackson Hewitt tax service on High Street has also been sold “and the apartment upstairs is being refurbished,” Lee-Clark said.
Deliah and Dean’s market opened this year as well, offering healthy plant-based and glutenfree food choices, in a building the owners Dena and Ronald Reeves purchased and renovated.
“I can’t say enough about these people who are investing their time and treasure in Pottstown,” Lee-Clark said. “These are not big developers, but they believe in the town and they are all in.”
But there are more than just new restaurants and retail stores putting down roots in Pottstown, she said.
“There is business going on in Pottstown every day, but what people scream for is the window dressing, as we’re seeing that now in more than just new businesses,” she said.
Lee-Clark pointed the complete renovation of the Burger King across from the hospital and the renovation of the set of buildings housing Three Brothers Mexican Food, King Diner and now, a new Dollar General.
A new hemp processing facility has opened in town, and a CBD store at King and Charlotte streets, both capitalizing on the loosening of marijuana laws in Pennsylvania.
The North Adams Street building once owned by the YMCA is now called The Complex and in addition to the YMCA, its tenants include Greater Pottstown
Tennis and Learning; Henley Elite Athletic Training; Tri-County Network and will shortly see the reopening of the warm water pool to offer aqua therapy courtesy of Tower Health, Lee-Clark said.
She pointed to the Walmart renovation and Aldi and Michael’s craft store moving in off Shoemaker Road; the Turn 5 expansion into a building on Robinson Street, the other half of which will soon be occupied by offices for the Social Security Administration.
As a matter of fact, finding tenants for Pottstown’s wealth of office space will be PAID’s focus for 2020, Lee-Clark said.
“It’s great to get these new businesses on High Street, but we need to build the base of customers for them, as well as bring living-wage jobs into town, so that will be our emphasis next year,” she said.