Business isn’t exactly booming on the mountain, if longstanding business J & S Shoes’ closing is any indicator.
J & S was a founding member of the Mountain Business Association when it started in 2006, said Signal Mountain Vice Mayor and MBA member Susan Robertson, and fellow MBA members say they were unhappy to hear of the 20-year store’s closing.
“The economy is very difficult up here,” Robertson said. “It’s a small community and we have a lot of competition off the mountain.”
While some businesses have closed their doors, others seem to thrive – or at least stay open. Though Pie Slingers closed shop on the mountain in 2012 after having been open for about a year and a half, The Pizza Place and Domino’s are still satisfying pizza cravings, which The Pizza Place has been doing for more than 20 years.
Nancy and Rick Adams’ Southern Star Take-Away is still serving up country favorites, but their upscale full-service restaurant Seventeen Ninety closed its doors after little more than a year in business.
MBA president Betty Crawford, owner of 12 Paws Bakery, is preparing to relocate her shop to Red Bank, while former MBA president and current board member Karie Holmes, who owns Accents located in the same Signal shopping plaza, said business has been “fantastic” at her shop.
Robertson said she wants to see businesses come up to the mountain and succeed. She thinks essential businesses like pharmacies, grocery stores and medical offices thrive in the community, as well as “basic, no-frills businesses.”
“They’ve got to hit the pulse of the community and provide good service and affordable prices,” she said. “It’s got to be more than retail; it’s got to be a service.”
A store that sells wine or a new coffee shop, “a kind of mom-and-pop Starbucks,” would do well in the town of Signal Mountain, Robertson added. The closest thing the community had, Sweet Gipsy Cafe, closed several years ago, after several years in business.
“People don’t realize that ‘X’ amount of dollars that are spent locally go back into the community,” said Holmes. “It’s all about shopping local. If they don’t support us, we won’t be here to support them.”