Downtown Louisville business owners struggling to adapt to new realities

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Struggling downtown Louisville business owners say they're trying to overcome two significant obstacles: empty offices and a perception that the city's streets are unsafe.

Those conditions have created a perfect storm that have made it nearly impossible for some businesses to survive.

After little more than a year, All Thai'd Up -- a Thai restaurant -- closed its downtown Louisville location.

"Ultimately, it's just the increase of homelessness -- the crime in the area -- and just not feeling safe," said Katherine Aphaivongs, the restaurant's owner. 

Aphaivongs believes crime keeps people away from downtown. She said most of her customers worked in the city and came for lunch, but business dropped off after lunchtime.

"How do you keep the businesses that are paycheck-to-paycheck?" she asked. "Because we're not getting the volume of business we need to sustain."

According to the Louisville Downtown Partnership, 32 retail or restaurant businesses opened in downtown Louisville in 2022. During the same period, 22 closed.

So far this year, nine have opened and five have closed.

"We still definitely need more daytime workers coming to the office on a daily basis," said Rebecca Fleischaker, executive director of the Louisville Downtown Partnership. "I do think that is part of what's hurting our small businesses in downtown." 

Fleischaker says tourism is supporting a lot of the activity they're seeing right now, but that alone won't be enough. She hopes to see more people back in the office soon. In the meantime, they do offer some different loan programs and are working to get more housing to attract more people to live in the city.

Some small downtown businesses did tell WDRB they are seeing more foot traffic now that it is getting warmer outside.

Fleischaker adds that, according to LMPD data, crime is down. She said they hope by holding events people will come downtown to see for themselves.

"I can say the words, but I think what is going to be more impactful is what people can see: that people are having a good time," she said. "They're comfortable, they're confident."

Thomas Lambert, an economics professor with the University of Louisville, said Louisville's issues are not uncommon.

"Pretty much Louisville reflects the averages, as far as crime being a concern, office vacancy rates," he said.

Cities across the country are dealing with a perception of crime, more work-from-home jobs and more office vacancies.

Some of this issues starting long ago, and were worsened in the pandemic.

"You've got an overall trend of less and less office space being used, this was before COVID, mostly because of communications," he said "The fax machine, then emails, sending things by PDF, electronic signatures on documents... changes in communications over the decades even before the internet were causing downtown central business districts to hollow out a little bit as far as employment, the necessity to meet face-to-face."

Now, with office vacancies reaching an all-time high in 2022, Lambert believes smaller downtown businesses have a long road ahead.

"If you don't get the foot traffic, then these little shops, restaurants -- they're going to have a tough time surviving," Lambert said. 

Longtime spots like the Main Eatery are evolving to try to overcome these obstacles.

"The current situation in downtown that is concerning for many reasons, didn't happen overnight," said owner David Henning. "And it's not going to be fixed overnight." 

After 23 years of serving downtown office workers, Henning said the main traffic coming through his restaurant is made up of tourists. To cater to that crowd, they've made a number of changes, including adding alcohol to the menu.

He believes things downtown will eventually take a turn for the better.

"I see good stuff happening, I really do. I see it on an individual basis, I see it on a business basis" Henning said. "We're small business folk, so we try to patronize small business. We're very grateful to our guests who patronize this small business. We look to the future with hope."

Though it didn't work out for Aphaivongs, she does hope to see more people give downtown businesses a chance.

"Come downtown. There's enough, you know, law enforcement to make sure you are protected and safe," she said. "Once in a while you should give it a shot. The businesses need you. If you love us, support us." 

Aphaivongs does still have a food truck, and plans to open another brick and mortar in the future.

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