RICHMOND, Va. -- Over the years, Richmond's downtown has seen many empty storefronts transform into thriving businesses, and thanks to a new grant program, momentum surrounding the revitalization of Broad Street continues to build.
Called the heartbeat of the city, Broad Street sprawls with energy from art to culture to history.
“I think it’s just eclectic," said Lucy Meade with Venture Richmond, who noted it hasn't always been that way. “It’s taken many years for it to kind of come back."
The "comeback" was made even stronger by about a dozen business that have opened up shop on Broad so far this year, including Taylor's Barber Shop.
“We'd like to say that, you know, we're more than barbers," said owner, Dawayne Taylor. “Sometimes we're therapists, sometimes we're best friends. We're all that in one.”
Taylor has been keeping Richmonders' hair styled and fresh since opening his shop in 2009 on West Leigh Street at 25-years-old.
"I think having a space where everybody feels welcome, where are you're spoken to when you hit the door, it was really important to me," Taylor said about his shop. "I think customer service drives the majority of all businesses."
In Spring of 2022, Taylor relocated to the Arts District.
“When you think about downtown and the diversity in downtown or in the city, it's all types of walks of life and being able to service multiple cultures, meet new people," Taylor said.
The move came with a $10,000 grant from Venture Richmond. Thanks to state funding, the marketing agency and economic development group gave $100,000 total to ten business owners who opened on Broad in the Arts District between January and May 2022.
Taylor said the grant served as a tremendous help as he continues to feel the lingering impacts COVID-19 had on the small business community.
"We all know what we've been through in these last couple of years, and being a small business owner is rough. I think a lot of times people see the owner but don't know before the owner may pay his mortgage, he has to pay for the business because there are other lives that are affected by that," he said. "Getting this grant has been amazing for us. It allows us not only to look at opportunity outside of Broad and expanding but also creating a space to look even better for the clients to come."
Meade, Director of Economic Development and Community Relations for Venture Richmond, said the financial boost has helped breathe new life into the area and fill vacancies along the historic street, calling the grant partnership with the state "unprecedented."
"We’ve never done anything like that before," Meade said. "We had a great response. We partnered with the Metropolitan Business League and worked with the owners who had vacant space and posted their information on CoStar and LoopNet, which get tons of traffic."
Meade said the other new tenants consist of a gift shop, a florist, and service businesses, contributing to what she called a "new vibe" for the area.
“It's transforming from the old retail, which was the only place in town to find retail, to just being a mixed-use sort of vibe," she said.
While much of downtown transforms, Broad Street still has a ways to go in its revitalization efforts as some storefronts remain empty, blighted, or shuttered. Meade said Venture Richmond is partnering with a developer to begin work on one block that hasn't been renovated in many years.
"We're excited that they're beginning to do some of their projects on Broad, and think that that will really, really help," she said.
Meanwhile, the City of Richmond is also investing $100,000 into beautifying Broad. The city launched a facade improvement program which will help business owners revitalize neglected storefronts by matching up to half of the improvement costs.
The city's website says, "Storefronts in the Arts & Cultural District are some of the finest in the entire Commonwealth. However, many have suffered through years of insensitive changes, lack of maintenance, or outright neglect. Studies have shown that restoration and thoughtful design improvements often lead to greater business success by attracting more customers. Together, a series of well-restored and handsome building façades in the Arts & Cultural District will improve the overall image of the District, draw more people to the District, promote retail activity, increase vibrancy, and make a place where our local businesses can thrive."
Meanwhile, Richmonders including Taylor, hope to see downtown continue changing, growing, and thriving.
“It should be a place that you can come and get everything, and I think that we're growing into that space," Taylor said.
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