WOOSTER With the bell tower of a classic county courthouse rising above Market Street, downtown Wooster is thriving again. 

 

Founded 200 years ago, Wooster quickly rose to prominence as an important center of commerce 61 miles south of Cleveland. But competition from the big box stores and malls over the last 20 years have been tough for downtown merchants in Wooster.

The great architecture along Main Street from the 1890's was starting to fade. Storefronts were closing. Freedlanders, the oldest family owned department store in Ohio, was getting pushed into the history books.

A few years ago, there was a 49 percent vacancy rate in the buildings along the street level in downtown Wooster, with 65 percent vacancy in the second story units.

Longtime resident Lee Spencer paused from his paperwork at the Wooster Appliance Center and said, "You should go up and down main street. There is a lot of history in this town. I mean look at the buildings. They are gorgeous."

Recognizing that the life blood of the city was slowly fading away, the merchants, residents and civic leaders formed a group known as "Main Street Wooster." Their mission was simple revitalize downtown one building at a time.

"We call it adaptive re-use," said Sandra Hull, executive director of Main Street Wooster.

The key was to attract young entrepreneurs and business owners to invest in Wooster.

The persuasion began to work. Soon flames of new energy began to re-energize downtown Wooster. New restaurants like the Broken Rocks Cafe & Bakery began to open on Main Street. Owners Glen Grumbling and his wife Lisa moved to Wooster and quickly developed a loyal customer base.

Taking a break from the kitchen, Grumbling said, "Our customers need to feel this is like home. And it's family when somebody comes in here to eat. You have to treat them like family."

On nearby Market Street, Michael Mariola and his wife Emily opened the trendy South Market Bistro and then began to rehab the upper floors for loft apartments.

Mariola said, "There is such beauty in these old buildings that we wanted to preserve them. My wife and I wanted to preserve them the way they were and make use of this incredible space."

Mariola showed Channel 3's Mike O'Mara one of the unusual lofts that had served as the local Oddfellows Lodge all the unusual art on the walls and ceiling carefully preserved for the future tenants.

There is now a 5 percent vacancy rate in downtown Wooster.

"The people who wait on you in this community are your neighbors," said Hull. "It's just an incredibly different kind of shopping and dining experience that we offer. And it's working!"

View the WKYC Video here.