FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – It’s been a year since the Florence Downtown Development Corporation hired a consultant to help fill empty store fronts along Dargan street.
This time last year, there were 8 empty store fronts. Unfortunately, that number has not changed. But still, the community development consultant says the city is on the right track.
To have a vibrant downtown, you have to have good retail, good restaurants, residences and a work force to support it. Some of those things are already in place and the others are in the works,” said Bob Sager.
Sager says, although the number of empty store fronts remains the same, progress has still been made. “The ones that were open last year, we would have liked to have filled by the end of the year. We didn’t quite make that goal but we did fill some that we really didn’t anticipate being able to fill.”
Sager says this year, he hopes to bring more restaurants, clothing stores, salons and entertainment to the historic district, as does Florence native Sara Lynn Pyatte.
She tells me the I.S. Rainwater building in downtown Florence was a furniture store owned by her late father and late grandfather before it caught fire decades ago. In honor of them, she hopes it will be used to serve the community.
“They both loved The Lord and they loved people and they loved doing for people and serving people. And if there’s any way it could serve others, I know that would please them,” said Pyatte.
Sager also says a handful of businesses have been added to Florence in the past year and the city has seen a net gain of 9 businesses.
