Anyone driven down Route 7 from South Burlington to Shelburne lately? Not quite the thriving business district it once was, to say the very least. At least a half dozen empty buildings that haven’t been reoccupied. Noted businesses that have left include the Tuscan Sun, Sirloin Saloon, Vermont Country Kitchen, and Climb High. Roche’s Casual Furniture/Kasazza Kids made the move across the street to the old Climb High building, leaving their old venue vacant.
Is competition from the box stores in Williston leaving Shelburne Road in the dust? Does Route 7 just not have the draw to bring people like it once did? Tough saying really, but every rush hour Shelburne Road is literally clogged with cars. The people are there, they’re just not stopping to buy or eat. Why is that?
Hate to point the finger, but it didn’t seem like things were this bad before the Route 7 redo a couple years back. Maybe all those businesses were right and their worst case scenario’s have been realized? Could it be that all those traffic medians in the middle of the road did hurt business? Could it just be that the area is so known for it’s traffic that it’s just avoided in general? Or is it simply that the State of Vermont played with the traffic patterns and was too successful? After all, they were looking to lower the amount of time it took to get from one end of Shelburne road to the other, kudos to Agency of Transportation for this success.
But the vacant businesses? I think a couple factors are at play here. While it is easier to get from one end to the other, it certainly is harder to cross the road and get from one business to the next. Not having people crossing the road constantly does allow for better thru flow, but makes it trickier to visit the places you want. You have to consciously plan out where you’re going to start and end, and how best to navigate the flow of traffic. That’s a feat for seasoned Shelburne Road shoppers, let alone the visitors in town for the first time.
Looks like only time will tell. Will Shelburne Road become a ghost town, or return the profitable business district it once was?
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I'm not expert enough to pinpoint the problem, but I can say that you can look forward to history repeating itself on Williston Road in South Burlington. It's no longer possible to make a left turn across the traffic on that road, so be sure they'll be reconstructing it soon.
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