AMESBURY — Where hardware stores and neighborhood grocers once stood now stand luxury spas, chocolatiers and furniture stores.
Economic Development Director Joe Fahey remembers Amesbury 30 years ago when he would stop his car in front of a store and run in to get the essentials.
Days of walking leisurely through Market Square and window shopping, as so many do now, were part of a faraway plan not yet come to fruition.
"More people are coming in now and looking for some sort of experience, a two-hour dining experience or a spa day, maybe a combination of both," Fahey said. "Amesbury is reflective of the regional needs and has become service-oriented along with finding a niche market."
The face of downtown Amesbury has changed in recent years, giving way to branding the town as a more upscale destination rather than a town in the shadows of Newburyport. The change can be seen daily, too, in the form of old shops closing and new ones opening, many targeted to a select audience.
Deb Pagley, president of the Downtown Business Association, is working to devise a plan to bring more businesses downtown, thus bringing more shoppers in.
Last week, she pitched an idea to other business owners to have a reception to draw more people downtown.
Pagley hopes to pick towns, such as Newburyport or Portsmouth, where business owners may be contemplating closing or relocating and invite them to Amesbury to network with local merchants and participate in an open house of all downtown vacant storefronts.
"We want to entice businesses to move here," Pagley said. "We are what Newburyport was 20 or 30 years ago, and it's an opportunity for those who have had it with high rent to go someplace and make money."
Steve Martin of Ashley and Barnes on Elm Street left his storefront of 15 years on Pleasant Street in Newburyport at the beginning of the month to move into the building he owns and was using as a warehouse to save money.
He is just one of a handful of Newburyport businesses who have cited high rent as the reason for closing shop over the past year.
"Amesbury needs a few stores to move in," Martin said as he moved to Amesbury. "It's the perfect place for a young business owner to experiment with a business cheaper than if they learned in Newburyport, where the rents are higher."
Martin's transition from Newburyport to Amesbury is exactly what Pagley hopes to see more of.
"Word of the street is there are a lot of businesses interested in moving into town," Pagley said, noting a women's clothing store is currently scouting out downtown locations. A coffee and panini shop is also in talks to open in the coming year, and Crafter's Quarters will soon be opening at 36 Main St. Jennifer Rogers, owner of Crafter's Quarters searched across the North Shore and throughout the Merrimack Valley for the perfect place to start her store before settling on Amesbury.
"It's adorable, historically beautiful and has wonderful cafes and restaurants for customers," Rogers said. "The chamber has done a lot to entice crafters and artisans to come to the area, and I wanted a place friendly to crafting and creativity."
Roger noted her customers from Maine to northern Massachusetts will find Amesbury the perfect central place to come and craft.
"I liked Newburyport as well, but the rents in Amesbury are less. And I'm in a gorgeous, redone mill building with plenty of natural light and high ceilings conducive to creativity. Customers will be very happy to visit."
Rogers is currently open and will hold a grand opening open house on Oct. 25.
A Boston based high-end jewelry store will open after the holidays on Main Street near the Ovedia Chocolate store.
"We are definitely going more upscale, but I don't think upscale to the point it breaks the pocketbook."
Former Mayor Nick Costello, who was at the helm when Amesbury redesigned its downtown to a Victorian theme, says the downtown's movement toward a higher income bracket is not necessarily a bad thing.
"It's good we have high-end businesses because you have to have something special to bring people in," Costello said. "At shopping centers, you get mediocre kinds of things, but to attract people, you have to have something unique: good restaurants, nice boutiques. And that mix is starting to happen."
When Costello was mayor, things were in the building stage, and he remembers when Newburyport, 30 years ago, went through similar things Amesbury is currently experiencing.
"I used to think Newburyport was pretty smart when it reconstructed itself," Costello said. "Amesbury has to take what they have and build on it. Amesbury can be branded as a rich kind of turn-of-the-century industrial, Currier and Ives-type town. It's a typical New England town, and that should be taken advantage of."
Stefanie McCowan, director of the Chamber of Commerce, has worked over the past year to unite businesses throughout town as well as creating more of a "buzz" about Amesbury in other parts of the state. Events such as "Business After Hours," are held monthly for Amesbury merchants to network.
"When I moved here two years ago, it was all doom and gloom," Pagley said. "People are now realizing the town is growing in the right direction, and business owners are enthusiastic about getting involved."
Another part of the Chamber of Commerce and downtown business association plan has been to create a slogan for Amesbury as development of the Upper and Lower Millyard continues. Slogans such as "Destination Amesbury" or "Absolutely Amesbury," were suggested in August.
"With the new transportation center coming and the senior center, it should help us a great deal by bringing people downtown," Costello said, noting downtown development is needed to boost the tax base. "There is also talk to have a kayak area and boat ramp as well as parking. Those are all positive signs."
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