Retailers say Phoebus is ripe for more shops
Take a quick stroll down Mellen Street in Phoebus and it’s easy to spot changes to the curb appeal with new restaurants and other businesses opening.
The change is welcome, but maybe not fast enough for some retailers on the street.
William Welch, who runs Phoebus Auction Gallery, said there are still too many empty storefronts for his taste. And some of the shops there don’t even open daily, he said.
“There’s a lot of space. There’s a lot of opportunity in Phoebus to do something,” said Welch, who has been on Mellen Street for at least two decades. “We need people to bring their ideas to Phoebus. There are buildings in Phoebus that are ready.”
And more are becoming available. Margo’s, a quaint embroidery and college wear boutique at 11 Mellen St., is closing shop, according to owner Margo YoungWiggins.
Wiggins says she is retiring. Margo’s has been in business for 28 years — and a fixture in Phoebus for roughly a decade. The shop sells Greek wear — memorabilia clothing for traditionally black fraternities and sororities — T-shirts and reunion items, and creates digitized logos on clothing.
Wiggins, who works with her husband Bill, said the couple will be available to take future orders online.
Thoughts on the aquatics center?
Hampton’s plans to build an aquatics center has its critics both on City Council and among residents. The city hopes a new center will lure marquee swim tournaments and bolster tourism revenues.
Melinda Webb shared with the Daily Press an email conversation she had with Mayor Donnie Tuck about the proposed center.
Tuck is among three council members who in 2017 voted against the project.
But when the city received an unsolicited proposal from a local group to design a $20 million facility, Tuck agreed, along with other council members, for Hampton to issue a request for additional proposals.
Judging by the email discussion, clearly they had two views of Hampton.
From Webb’s perspective, Hampton has enough community pools and doesn’t have a wealthy population to support a huge aquatics center.
“I am worried about exactly who will want to use this pool. Maybe you can get a few swim teams, but if it costs too much, we can forget about that,” Webb wrote in the email. “We have the wrong population for such a project. We are old & retired WITH our working age neighbors just getting by, keeping their rent paid. Families with money live in Smithfield or York County. They leave Hampton.”
From Tuck’s perspective, he said there is a “contrast between what some residents see as perhaps a dying, sleepy hamlet and what outsiders see as a waterfront community with lots of vibrancy and opportunities,” he said.
Developers want to invest in Hampton and use their own money.
“To believe that Hampton would only be appealing to those who already live here and not to anyone else is to sell ourselves short,” Tuck said.
What’s your take on the new aquatics proposal? Check out my story at bit.ly/2z8RHdB and then email me.
Local men named to commission
National Park Service Superintendent Terry E. Brown and Fort Monroe trustee Rex Ellis have been named to a new federal commission to oversee the 400year anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans in English North America.
U.S. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke made the announcement last week to create the 15-member commission, with six of those members representing organizations in Virginia.
Commission members, appointed through July 1, 2020, will help expand the understanding and appreciation of all facets of African-American history and culture, he said.