Local Businesses Make it Through Rough Days, Look Forward to the Future
Downtown Terre Haute and Wabash Avenue continue to go through a makeover, as the area attempts to revitalize the popularity that it once had.
The street has seen many new apartments, restaurants, shops and boutiques arrive in the last few months, hoping to gain the business to stick around for more than just a couple years.
While most of the new businesses and apartments are catching the eyes of the pedestrians who walk or drive down the newly renovated street, other businesses who have been around for a longer period of time continue to rack in enough money to remain in their locations.
One of these places is Boo’s Crossroads Cafe, located at the corner of Wabash Ave. and 7th Street.
Libby Waters, the manager of the local cafe, said the downtown area being renovated can definitely help their business with the amount of people, especially Indiana State University students and staff, who will be walking around the area more often, but she said it can also help the other businesses around them, which essentially takes money out of their pockets.
“We have hopes that the new tenants will bring more life and vibrancy to downtown. I believe that once they realize that we offer healthier menu items and reasonable prices within walking distance that they will boost business,” she said. “[But at the same time], we have a lot of competition downtown. J Gumbo, Chavas, Wise Pies, Rollies, Saratoga, Copper Bar, Clabber Girl and the Terminal [will all get business as well].”
Waters believes the location of the restaurant has gotten them the business to stay open, as they have had more local residents of Terre Haute come eat their instead of students from ISU.
“We have more Terre Haute residents than students,” she said. “I most certainly do think that our location has everything to do with how well we do. We are located so closed to campus, the Hilton, the Candlewood and we are just smack in the middle of the Crossroads of America.”
Even with them being located so close to campus, Boo’s Crossroads Cafe has always had more Vigo County residents. With that being said, the shop has started something new to reach out to the students of ISU through the ever so popular social media.
“We are utilizing social media [and] offer a 10% discount with a student ID,” Waters said. “We are [also] active participants in all the downtown events like The Downtown Block Party and Miracle on 7th Street.”
Another business who has been very popular since its opening is Yogurt In Love, which happens to be closely located to Boo’s Crossroads Cafe.
Yogurt In Love opened in September of 2013 and has become one of the top ice cream and frozen yogurt restaurants in Terre Haute.
Like Boo’s Crossroads Cafe, Cristina New, manager of Yogurt In Love, thinks the refurbished downtown area will have a major impact on their success, particularly with the lack of competition on Wabash Ave.
“I can’t imagine I will do anything other than bring us more business, [especially since] we offer a unique product for the downtown area,” she said.
Also, similar to Crossroads Cafe, New thinks the location of her frozen yogurt shop has had success because of the location and because of the amount of sales it loses during the summer because of the absence of students on vacation.
“Yes, [our location] definitely does [play a big factor] during the school year,” she said. “Business was a bit slower over the summer last year.”
New estimated the amount of Indiana State students that walk through the doors of Yogurt In Love, and it’s a lot more compared to the local residents of the Terre Haute community.
“It’s hard to be certain, but the majority is students,” she said. “My best estimates would be 30 to 40 students per day, 150 to 200 students per week and 850 to 1,000 students per month.”
With the student population being the biggest consumer of their product, Yogurt In Love has reached out to them in a variety of ways, such as: giving updates on different social media sites, appearing at different student events, giving discounts and giving customers the opportunity to guess the weight of their cup of yogurt and receive it free of charge if guessed correctly.
“We have an offer in the new student orientation materials and have made appearances at numerous ISU events. We also have sponsored several Greek organizations with various fundraisers [and] currently have an ad on the back of Baesler’s grocery store receipts,” she said. “Guess Your Weight is our most unique offering, plus we offer a 15% student discount.”
Kelli Buchanan, a local Terre Haute resident and current Indiana State University student, who is a frequent visitor to both Yogurt In Love and Boo’s Crossroads Café, said both places have their own ways of maintaining a successful business and thinks the highly anticipated renovation of downtown Terre Haute can only help.
“I eat at Crossroads Café whenever my dad recommends it for lunch, as it is one of his favorite places to eat. It has the small town diner feel about it, that we like so much. There aren’t a lot of places like that in Terre Haute, it’s a place that you feel as if they know who you are once you walk in the door,” she said. “I also go to Yogurt In Love a lot. It is one of the absolute best places for ice cream or frozen yogurt. They offer so many different flavors, change their flavors out every once in a while, give ISU students a discount and allow the chance to guess the weight of your cup of yogurt, in hopes of getting it correct, in which they give it to you for free. It has a very new feel to it and seems to be one of the most successful downtown places we have in Terre Haute.”
Even though both businesses are very different and have approached their consumers in different ways, they have both been able to survive the rough days of downtown Terre Haute.
Located just a few steps away from each other, one thing is for sure, they both hope and believe all of the new attractions that are currently being constructed downtown will bring them more business and keep them next to each for a very long time.
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