LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- Less than a month from the Kentucky Derby, downtown Louisville still looks like a ghost town with boarded up windows.
Not many people are accompanying the music at Vincenzo's Italian Restaurant these days. Around this time last year the owner would typically get around 60 reservations on a Thursday night, he said, but that is not the case now.
"How are we doing? ... We have eight people coming," the owner, Vincenzo Gabriele said Thursday.
He said his business has dropped easily by 90%, in part due to downtown employees working remotely, cancelled events and conventions, government restrictions and civil unrest.
"Forty-five years I've been downtown. Never, ever, ever seen anything like this. This is just out of control," Gabriele said.
Down on Fourth Street, Regalo is hardly seeing foot traffic either. Owner JD Dotson said he maybe sees two customers a day.
"It's kind of a sad sight to see down here," Dotson said.
He said he wants to stay downtown, but it might come to a point soon where he will have to think about moving or closing.
"It's just hard right now," Dotson said.
According to Louisville Downtown Partnership, Louisville's struggles reflect national dynamics.
"We're not in the best shape, but neither is any downtown in the country, but we're certainly not in a terrible state," said Rebecca Matheny, the organization's president.
According to LDP, it is hard to say how long it will take for the heart of the city to fully recover.
Gabriele feels downtown will get back to where it was, but believes it will take quite some time and hopes things do not get worse before they get better.
"People got to begin to regain confidence in coming back to downtown," he said. "We must rebuild downtown. A lot of people depend on the livelihood."
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