Evanstonnow

Almost no vacancies

N.Hernandez32 min ago

Alissa Taylor's store on Central Street came about following a pickup truck ride through the Midwest ... after a funeral.

Taylor was returning from Columbus, Nebraska, following her mother's death.

Partly just for transportation, and partly as a form of grief therapy, Taylor bought the pickup out there, and made her way back ... picking up antiques along the way.

Taylor's mom once had an antique store.

Now Taylor does as well, opening Myrtle Bowie a couple of months ago, at 1911 Central St.

"I love Central Street, and its sense of community," Taylor says.

"Before I signed the lease, I walked up and down the blocks to meet the shopkeepers."

And lately, there have been more of those to meet.

So far this year, according to Angela Shaffer, director of the Central Street marketing group, 18 new leases have been signed. That will give Central Street roughly a 3.5% vacancy rate, once all the new businesses that have signed leases open.

"It's really incredible now," Shaffer says, of the influx of new restaurants, boutiques, fitness facilities, and other places to shop.

Central Street actually has three segments – East Central (east of Green Bay Rd.), Central Central (the area near Independence Park), and West Central.

This Saturday, Central Street holds its annual Holiday Stroll, with special offerings from many of the businesses. A motorized trolley will connect East, Central, and West segments of the street. However, a Christmas tree lighting will have to wait for another year, as the renovated Independence Park still doesn't have electricity.

Shaffer says 90% of Central Street businesses are independent and locally owned.

"And," she adds, "every time you have an independent business everybody's got a story."

Take, for example, Drew Beckmann.

Beckmann purchased the vacant library, and turned it into Heroines and Heroes, a comic book/gaming store. And he moved to Central Street from Wilmette to find more space.

Proximity to Wilmette, along with the stable Central Street neighborhood and the variety of stores all contribute to a viable Central Street district.

Alissa Taylor opened her antique/design store in what had been a vacant art restoration and framing shop.

Myrtle and Bowie are the first and last names of Taylor's great grandmothers.

The average item goes for around $200, although furniture can be higher, as well as unusual items.

"I had a $1,000 trash can," Taylor explains, although she "sold it for a lot less."

It was a Danish modern design, "a trash can for someone who wasn't going to use it as a trash can."

And then there's the big mirror, rescued from a dismantled saloon on the South Side of Chicago.

"If that mirror could talk," Taylor says, "I wonder if [great grandma] Annie Bowie knew" the huge reflective glass.

"The South Side is where she grew up."

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