What is old doesn’t always have to become new

As the national economy has taken a turn for the worst since late 2007, the local small business community has been forced to revitalize the way they conduct business in order to stay alive. As Main Street after Main Street takes a beating, some in downtown Gresham’s Main Street have shown they’re staying, and even growing in power.

One look at downtown Gresham reveals a vibrant and expanding business community, one that is growing more connected and more aware of itself as time marches on.

While new stores, such as a yarn store and a candy shop, have sprouted up and are giving new life to downtown Gresham, they share the block with the old guard; these small business have been holding down the fort for several years now and have earned their small business badges of honor.

Sunny Han’s

Sunny Han’s Wok & Grill, has anchored the corner of 3rd and Main streets for nearly 20 years under the same owners; the aforementioned Sunny, and his wife Judy Han, who said business is good.

“It’s better than 2010. It’s come up. It’s stabilized, Sunny would say it’s stabilized,” said Han.

When asked what their worst year was, Han said that the year following the Sept. 11 attacks was their worst.

“It was a turning point. I think the reason for that is, for a year people sat home, they were shocked and they sat watched the towers fall for a year repeat, repeat, repeat. I think that was when the economy started to wane a little bit, started to slow down. People started to get nervous, they started hanging on,” said Han of their worst year adding that the 1990s were good to them, with business coming in from the opening of their doors.

“We did have a location in Vancouver, but we closed it,” said Han, adding that it was closed based on the economy.

Han also said that they would serve between 500 and 600 meals a day and then that number fell by a hundred a day after 9/11.

“We’ve managed to hang on,” said Han, adding that she and Sunny get up every morning to check the price on petroleum as a gauge for business that day.

Café Delirium
Across the intersection from Sunny Han’s stands Café Delirium, or Café D to the local yokels. Owner Cody Clark, who has been the owner for nine of its 10 and half years of existence, said that business has “actually never been better.”

“Last year (2011) was our best year for sure. I’ve been told the same thing from others and it’s encouraging,” said Clark, who also added that the café hasn’t experience the same kind of financial hardships during the recession that other businesses have.

“I think the difference between us is that coffee isn’t a high ticket item,” said Clark of his fortune to miss the financial misfortunes of many other businesses.
Bocelli’s Ristorante

Across from Café Delirium lies Boccelli’s Ristorante, another anchor business, which has offered a fine dining presence for about twelve years.

Steven Hull, the general manager who has been with the restaurant for 10 years, said 2008-2009 was their low point during the recession.

“We were still busy… we never expected a loss of profit because we’re pretty high profile with a large customer base. We would’ve just expected lower sales by a percentage,” which is what happened, according to Hull, adding that many customers eat daily or weekly.

However, 2011 was Boccelli’s best year, entering record setting sales. Part of this is due to the introduction of a create-your-own-pasta lunch special for $4.99- it is now up to $6.49- in order to boost lunch sales, according to Hull.
Wall Street Pizza

Another anchor in the downtown business sector is Wall Street Pizza, the oldest of the old guard at the Main and Second street intersection, where they have been in continual business in the same location for 24 years.

While the other old guards have recently seen an upswing in sales, Wall Street manager Cary Leggett has said they that have, at best, maintained and ridden out the recession.

However, in contrast to the other businesses, 2007, the start of the recession was actually Wall Street’s best year, said Leggett.

“The economy hadn’t totally tanked yet and people were buying a little more pizza,” said Leggett who has been general manager for seven years. He added that the business is currently “hanging in there.”

Wall Street is also well-known as a supporter of the community, sponsoring local kids sports teams, schools in Gresham, Damascus and Sandy as well as charities.

MHCC “Biz Center”

A hallmark of the news businesses entering the fray in downtown Gresham is the involvement and support of the MHCC branch of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), located one street east of Main Street.

Antonio Paez, the Director of the SBDC, said, “SBDC services are available to anyone who owns or operates— or is considering starting— a small business in Oregon. Business owners who seek SBDC services are found everywhere. They comprise a complete spectrum of business stages, from start-up to mature companies.”

New ventures in downtown Gresham, such as iCandy, have utilized the SBDC resources to help start up and maintain their businesses.

“We are a support team for your business. SBDCs use a client-centered approach to deliver counseling (at no cost), training, information and technical assistance in all aspects of small business management,” said Paez.
Gresham Art Walk

One of the ways the more established businesses have survived the recession is in part due to the business and exposure brought on by the Gresham Art Walk, which is the third Saturday in July. The Art Walk was in part started by Han as a way to highlight local artists from Oregon and Southwest Washington and drew 12 thousand people to last year’s event , Han.

An underlying theme from the old guard businesses is their involvement with the Art Walk: Han is one of the founders and coordinators, Wall Street sponsors a booth, Boccelli’s sets up a beer garden and Clark says that Café Delirium employees will usually volunteer.

In tandem with the Art Walk, the Donna Hand Memorial Scholarship was set up by Han and others on the Art Walk committee to help art students at MHCC.
When asked what factors might have attributed to new stores coming to downtown Gresham, MHCC business faculty Mike Brayson, Andy Wong and Dave Garlington said, “Small businesses are being supported because of the potential employment growth that can occur when small businesses prosper.

Unemployed are giving up trying to find a job and creating their own through self-employment,” adding that downtown Gresham has a lot of vacant property that, with the right owners, can help launch new businesses.

“Actually, it seems like right now is the best business environment we have ever seen for startups in our professional career, with regard to educational and development opportunities along with a myriad of funding resources,” the instructors said.

Another theme of the old guard is that, besides getting involved with the community and the downtown business block, providing friendly and personal customer service and products that customers have come to trust and enjoy.

The new businesses on the block may have something to learn from these anchors of the local business community. Decades of success doesn’t lie.