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Ark City business; thriving or not

By JAMES JORDAN
Traveler Editor

Some say that Arkansas City is drying up and blowing away. But is it?

That could depend on perception as much as it does on reality.

Lisa Roberts, director of business and industry at Cowley College, said "our perception is reality." She explained that often when people see something happen that they care about, they assume it is happening everywhere.

"So, if someone sees a store they shop at close, they assume that closings are happening everywhere," she said."It may not be what is true, but that is how it feels to them."

A walk down Summit Street this morning, in a four-block downtown area from Adams north to Chestnut, showed that there were 54 storefronts active, and only four empty ones.

At 10 a.m. today, there were 34 businesses open in the four-block area and there were eight businesses that were in operation but not open at that time. There were 12 businesses open that people don't normally shop at, such as the chamber of commerce office or a local radio station and government-related offices.

City Commissioner and business owner Patrick McDonald was not surprised to hear there were so few open storefronts in the downtown area.

He said in some cases the owner of the building wants too much rent. He said there was a building he was interested in, but the asking price was too high.

"Those three or four open storefronts have been open for years," he said.

He feels that the downtown area is doing very well.

"This year, in the first three months, I had the best months I have ever had. The next three months were not good, and now it seems like business is back to normal," McDonald said from his used book store.

Roberts said people are still spending money in Arkansas City.

"Walgreens doesn't just randomly open a store without seeing market potential," she said of recent news that the store is opening here.

She said there does seem to be good economic activity here, but a lot of money is still going out of the market, to places like Wichita and other cities.

"What if everyone shifted 10 percent of their spending from out-of-town markets to the local market? That would be a great boom to our local economy," she said.

She said local businesses may need to do a better job of telling people why they should come to them.

"There is not a captive audience," she said. "You have to give people a reason to come."

Open for business
Businesses from Adams to Chestnut on Summit Street
10 a.m. today
34 businesses open
12 offices open
8 businesses not open
4 empty store fronts