Retail Scene in Duluth Changing Downtown, Along PIB

Things are a’ changing on the retail scene in Duluth both on Main Street downtown and on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

Chris McGahee, the city’s economic development manager, updated the Downtown Development Authority on impending changes at its Jan. 17 meeting. These changes are to be expected with other businesses such as Pure Taqueria and Eddie Owen Presents at the Red Clay Theatre creating excitement and interest in the city.

Some of the existing businesses, DDA Vice President Rob Ponder said, had been “placeholders” keeping storefronts from becoming vacant until the economy improved.

Here are a few of the anticipated changes:

• Sensibly Chic owners David Cosette and Shelly Howard recently closed their antique furniture and home accessories shop on Main Street for a new venture expected to be announced by the end of January.
• Wallace Reid Studio on West Lawrenceville Street is moving to Midtown. The Duluth Art Gallery owned by Beth Moody that shares the same building will continue to operate.
• Boudreaux’s Cajun Market and Café is relocating the Café to the Duluth Station Shopping Center and leaving the seafood market at its current location at Main Street and Abbotts Bridge Road. The café is expected to reopen at its new location Feb. 1.
• Annabellagio is closing its Main Street storefront to focus on its online wedding jewelry and accessories business, which will be located in the shop's rear retail space.
• Pure Taqueria had expressed interest in renting the space formerly occupied by SnoBiz at the corner of Main and West Lawrenceville streets for a yogurt shop, but owner Mike Burrell has other requests to lease the space.
• The retail space next to Kroger in the Peachtree Hill Shopping Center on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard has been demolished for construction of a free-standing LA Fitness center. “This sends a message to other strip shopping centers that they can reinvent themselves,” McGahee said.
• O’Reilly Auto Parts plans to open in the closed Blockbuster space on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

Also, the city has received a request for a haunted house to be operated in the Old City Hall administration building, McGahee said, but the building may need too many improvements for it to be feasible.